LISTEN: How Did Portnoy’s Pizza Reviews Start?

The "One Bite Pizza Festival" is returning for 2024 -- this time on Randall's Island.

(New York, NY) – Good news, New York City. The One Bite Pizza Festival is back. You can register now for the tickets pre-sale.

It was around this time last year when Dave Portnoy was the target of a smear campaign from one of the nation’s largest newspapers. A lightning rod for attention and page views, Portnoy has routinely been targeted by that sort of thing. Such is the burden one must carry when bucking the trend.

And Barstool Sports – founded by Portnoy as a free, weekly publication handed out at transit stops – has certainty bucked the trend.

In 2024, and for the better part of a decade beforehand, most sports coverage has been slanted to the left. This includes the “World Wide Leader” as much as anyone, but also smaller, less-successful sites like Deadspin. Even the “big” news outlets, like the Washington Post and New York Times, typically work their bias into sports coverage. So it wasn’t a huge shock when WaPo went after Portnoy last summer, as he launched his initial One Bite Pizza Fest. A team of reporters at the Post contacted a number of the event’s sponsors. They wanted to know if they were fully aware of Portnoy’s past as an outspoken fan and content creator. They were.

The 2023 One Bite Pizza Fest went off without a hitch. No sponsors abandoned Portnoy ahead of the event – which was marred only by hurricane-like conditions – but the pizza stayed crisp. Now, the whole shebang is back for another go-round. It won’t be in Coney Island like it was during the initial event. Portnoy says by hosting it on Randall’s Island, the whole pizza fest gets more room, and it’s a bit closer to people in Manhattan, New Jersey, and Westchester.

We had the chance to catch up with Portnoy, who is a good example of an entrepreneur success story, and a guy who loves his pizza. In fact, that love of pizza – in contrast to say, burritos – is how the whole pizza review trend got started. Those went viral, everybody knows etc., and the rest is history. But in terms of the sponsors who stood by the One Bite Pizza Festival’s side, the 2024 event has no shortage of companies backing the entire affair. Proper Wild, the official energy shot partner, will get your hunger up – which will be satisfied by Ferraro Foods iconic offerings from their Italian Food Village. Not to mention that Flatiron Pepper Co is there to upgrade the typical red flakes you dash on a New York City slice. In fact, they make pepper flakes out of chipotle, habanero, jalapeno – even Ghost and Scotch Bonnet peppers for anyone who lives a truly adventurous life.

The entire time you’ll be able to sign up and earn “points” toward some of the event’s many offerings – from the festival’s official rewards program partner, Bilt. And what could be better than washing down the bread, cheese, spices, and sauce we love in pizza form – with High Noon (if you’re enjoying an adult beverage.) All the teetotalers in attendance can sup an icy Coca Cola – also an official sponsor.

During the discussion with Portnoy, which included a response to the Washington Post hit piece, he also commented on the “non woke” nature of Barstool Sports. In many ways it helped the brand distinguish itself even further and reach new heights over the past 10 years. During that same time, competitors have fallen by the wayside.

By the way – given New York City lawmakers want to take away our legal, God-given right to make brick oven pizza, let’s give a shout out to Marra Forni. The Maryland-based company is the official brick and electric oven partner of the One Bite Pizza Festival. Together with Marra Forni, some of One Bite’s greatest pizzerias will have the ability to fire up their pizzas on the best wood and coal-fired pizza ovens in the business as well as on the most advanced Electric Stackable Ovens for the second year in a row.

As for the many pizzerias participating in the event – there’s over 30 to choose from. That includes names you may already know and love – plus some you’ve yet to try. Lucali, Sally’s Apizza, John’s of Bleecker, Di Fara, Frank Pepe Pizzeria, Rubirosa, Joe & Pat’s, De Lorenzo’s Tomato Pies, Prince Street, and dozens of other pizzerias will be there.

So from 77 WABC’s Midtown office we connected with the captain of the “pirate ship” and gained some insight into how it all began for “one bite” and the pizza festival that now carries the name.