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Dave Portnoy Pizza Reviews

MWB1982 said:


There's an example of what I'm about to talk about. This guy is ruining pizzas across America. All these pizza joints are trying to cater to this one guy who like his pizzas paper thin, low sauce, burnt crust, burnt cheese, no toppings...

I love all pizzas but this guy likes little kid's style pizzas. Give him an overcooked Totino's cheese pizza and it will score high on his chart.

This is how mind control works. A famous guy likes shitty pizzas, and everyone wants to side with him or cater to him because of who he is

I like a Meat Lovers or Supreme with a lot of sauce and extra cheese. The pizzas he likes is some Chucky Cheese BS.
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Bro, I get that you don't like his style of pizza, but...

You REALLY think pizza joints across the US are like, "We HAVE to change our pizza in case Dave Corduroy from Bar Stool comes by to try our pizza. We have to make the middle of the pizza PERFECT so that his one bite is the best. Make the middle really thin, overcooked, with no sauce or toppings."

You're angry, I understand. Take a step back and think. Stop it. Get some help.
 
Brom Bones said:
Bro, I get that you don't like his style of pizza, but...

You REALLY think pizza joints across the US are like, "We HAVE to change our pizza in case Dave Corduroy from Bar Stool comes by to try our pizza. We have to make the middle of the pizza PERFECT so that his one bite is the best. Make the middle really thin, overcooked, with no sauce or toppings."

You're angry, I understand. Take a step back and think. Stop it. Get some help.
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I think that, all you gotta do is watch some of the videos and see how seriously the pizza joints take his reviews, they absolutely wanna please Dave but also realize that he is single-handedly popularizing a certain style of pizza that a lot of people are now curious to try all over this great land of ours

What Dave is doing for small businesses and pitbulls is magnificent, Im not complaining, but his voice is very large in the pizza business right now and regular everyday customers are following his lead so pizza joints are definitely trying to accommodate the trend
 
He rated North of Brooklyn pizza in Toronto as the best pizza in the city so I went and tried it.

It’s not even the best pizza on that street.

I like the style of pizza he’s talking about too, thin crust but not too droopy, but yeah he has the taste palate of a child. When I was a little kid I would love that kind of pizza, way too salty with minimal cheese and sauce. You can eat it like you’re eating chips.
 
My problem with his reviews is his silly point grading system like how do you really differentiate between an 8.7 and an 8.8 in my head it's not possible I think he's slightly full of it and just trying to get business to pizza joints which when you think about it is a really nice thing to do for these independent restaurants
 
Aegon Spengler said:
He rated North of Brooklyn pizza in Toronto as the best pizza in the city so I went and tried it.

It’s not even the best pizza on that street.

I like the style of pizza he’s talking about too, thin crust but not too droopy, but yeah he has the taste palate of a child. When I was a little kid I would love that kind of pizza, way too salty with minimal cheese and sauce. You can eat it like you’re eating chips.
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Apparently he's not the only one. That place:

#5 Pizza Restaurant in Toronto on Yelp by user review rating (~1.8K reviews):

An 8.2 from the community on One Bite across 134 reviews (just 0.2 lower than Dave's score). This gives it the #2 highest community score across 17 Pizza places on Queen Street West, but the only place that scored higher (Gianna's with an 8.4) has only 2 votes.
onebite.app

North of Brooklyn Pizzeria Reviews | Old Toronto, Ontario | One Bite

North of Brooklyn Pizzeria in Old Toronto, Ontario reviews and ratings for pizza.
onebite.app onebite.app

Makes TasteToronto's Top 25 pizza restaurants in the city (for context, know there are 667 pizza restaurants indexed in the city):
www.tastetoronto.com

The Top 25 Pizza Spots in Toronto | TasteToronto

This wasn't an easy one, but we have put together a comprehensive guide to the best pizza in Toronto.
www.tastetoronto.com www.tastetoronto.com

Makes Foodism's Top 22 for the city:
foodism.to

Take a slice out of the best pizza in Toronto

From Neapolitan to New York-style, we've tracked down Toronto's best. Get a slice of Toronto best pizza at these knock-out places.
foodism.to foodism.to

Food Network Canada's Top 10 for the city:
www.foodnetwork.ca

Our Favourite Pizza Spots In Toronto

From the fluffiest crusts to the tastiest dipping sauces, find out our top picks for the best pizza in Toronto.
www.foodnetwork.ca www.foodnetwork.ca
 
Zyklon R said:
My problem with his reviews is his silly point grading system like how do you really differentiate between an 8.7 and an 8.8 in my head it's not possible I think he's slightly full of it and just trying to get business to pizza joints which when you think about it is a really nice thing to do for these independent restaurants
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If you watch his reviews you realize he'd agree with you. He's tongue-in-cheek with the decimals, you get the idea he thinks numeric scores are stupid to begin with, he's just doing his best to convey the relative wow factor he gets eating a pizza. Everybody knows the rule: just one bite.
 
Noveltymortar said:
I like Portnoy but he gave a rave review to a pizza joint a few miles from me and it was average at best. I suggest not putting too much weight on his pizza palate.
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The town next to me has about 7 pizza places, he gave a great score to the worst place. It has like a 3.9 rating on Google and Yelp, but an ex cop owns it and it looks likes a frozen pizza.
 
LostMyBlackBelt said:
The town next to me has about 7 pizza places, he gave a great score to the worst place. It has like a 3.9 rating on Google and Yelp, but an ex cop owns it and it looks likes a frozen pizza.
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What does an owner being an ex-cop have to do with pizza quality?
 
Madmick said:
Couldn't disagree more strongly.

I understand if you don't agree with the particular style of pizza he's chasing, but what's he after is sound from a culinary point of view. It's what most haute cuisine pizza places are trying to produce. I get it, that isn't pizza for everyone, but it isn't a "kid's pizza". Quite the opposite.

Pretty simple formula
  • He likes the pizzas hand-tossed like the classic marguerite style. Lightly or moderate sauced (no deep dish Chicago pizza).

  • He doesn't tolerate undercooked crusts. He wants them to be stiff. High-gluten. Thin crust, yes. I don't know who likes soggy crusts. He prefers them charred like you'd get with a brick oven. That's not "burnt". That's like saying a seared piece of meat on a grill is burnt. Dumb take.

  • Same with the cheese. He prefers classic full moisture mozzarella, not too much, and cooked at a high heat (400F+), preferably in a brick oven with a fire that is well ventilated so it's evenly cooked, but not perfectly even, like you'd get in an electric convection oven, so that the cheese is browned and bubbly. Again, most of us find this highly desirable. He's tolerant of cheese blends, too, he just gets triggered when places dump on the parm.

  • Per the sauce, I haven't noticed he has strong preferences except he doesn't seem to like them when they are heavily spiced. That's flavor neutral. I think this works to make his reviews relevant to the most people.

  • Not that this matters much, but he likes the slice cut thick, like 6-8 to a pie, no more, so that he can fold it. This is New York style.

  • Finally, yeah, he likes plain cheese, but for a reviewer, that's perfect. Because everyone has different preferences for toppings. Cheese is the foundation. If a joint can't do a proper cheese slice, then they're not getting the basics right. Maybe they've got a great specialty pizza where the toppings carry it, and cover the weaknesses, but it's ideal that he focuses on the fundamentals.


He's been a major force for good with pizza. Although I agree that what makes America great is that we always are so creative, so I am concerned with too many places trying to appeal to a single style. That's not good.
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If you have been dave portnoy this whole time I'm going to be pissed that I didn't make the connection sooner
 
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ColemanwastheGOAT said:
He just wants the crust cooked from what I've seen.
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Yeah. I don’t consider what he likes as thin crust though as some others have alluded to. I think it is the right consistency and on the thinner side, but thin crust is that almost crackery crust.

I like the style portnoy likes.
 
Hey guy..... great topic

I actually like the videos he posts out
of pure entertainment value bc I didnt understand the phenomenon he created....his review of Little Caesars and Costco were hilarious I thought...gettting cussed out by a couple joints

I think you might be missing the point with the reviews though. He does a simple cheese pizza becsuse of its intrinsic value. plus ALL pizza joints have a cheese pizza. and with exception to your comment regarding the floppy crust which he definitely is against

Love this thread already and all the takes in it keep it coming boyz
 
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I think the whole thing is dumb. Who is that guy and why should I care what he says about pizza?
I have what I like in pizza and I couldn’t care less about what someone has to say.

I think that’s the joy of pizza places: you have your favorite and you try others to see how it compares. It’s like burgers and bbq, I don’t what others have to say about it I just want to try it for myself.
 
Domitian said:
Thin crust is the GOAT.

Too much sauce can ruin a pizza
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Not to me especially if the sauce is awesome

Pleasure Point Pizza on 41st in Capitola California (Santa Cruz) is my all time fave and its floppy as fuck so F U Dave
 
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