Dave Portnoy touts Nico's, Mike's and Phil's pizzas

Dave Portnoy has a well-known bias against Long Island pizza, but his head was recently turned by a trio of spots.

Portnoy, founder of the bro-culture blog Barstool Sports, has been posting "One Bite Pizza Reviews" since 2017. He focuses on the Northeast and has often characterized Long Island as a purveyor of "football pies," overloaded, floppy pies with no snap. But his visit to Nico’s Charred Pies in Copiague, posted online Tuesday, elicited raves from "El Presidente." "This is great," he declared, "I’m stunned I haven’t heard of this place." He gave the round pie an 8.2 rating.

Nico’s owner, Anthony Sorice, said that Portnoy came about three weeks ago." "We had no clue he was coming, and the team didn’t realize what was happening."

The post went up on Tuesday night (it has already garnered more than 200,000 views on YouTube and more than 10,000 on Instagram). Nico’s is only open from Thursday to Sunday but, on Wednesday, "people showed up anyway, and the phone started ringing at noon and didn’t stop."

Nico’s pies are squarely in the Neo-Neapolitan tradition, thin-crusted and crisp like a New York pie, but using better ingredients, such as Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes and sausage from Dominick's S & D in the Bronx. They are made in a non-mobile truck parked behind Sorice's excellent Root + Branch brewery in Copiague. In 2023, the brewery was seeking a food option that would encourage people to stay longer and order more beer. After a few hired trucks failed to show, Sorice turned to his father, Frank, a former pizzaiolo, to deliver the goods.

Nico's wasn't the only local pizzeria Portnoy visited on March 27. His next stop was the cult takeout-only Mike's Underground Pizza in Amityville, whose owner, Michael Esposito, "fell through the rabbit hole of dough" almost 10 years ago. Pizza dough, he told to Newsday in 2022, is nothing more than wheat flour, yeast, salt, water and, usually, olive oil, but, "the most important ingredient is patience. My whole thing is the dough," he said. "Everything on a pizza matters, but if the vessel isn’t good, what’s the point?"

The Mike's video has not been posted yet, but Esposito reported that his pie received an 8.1 rating and that he was in the shop to chat with Portnoy whom he knew from having attended the Barstool One Bite Pizza Festivals in 2023 and 2024.

Portnoy's final stop was at Phil's Pizzeria in Syosset — the video was posted on Thursday night. Owner Anthony Laurino was, ironically, at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas when his son called and said, "Dad, you'll never believe who was just here." Laurino said he would have loved to meet Portnoy since his Barstool Fund, which provided financial aid to more than 600 small businesses during the pandemic, helped to keep the pizzeria afloat for nine months. 

Phil's pie got a 7.5, which sounded about right to Laurino. "I'm using the same flour, tomatoes and cheese that everyone is using," he said. "It's a Long Island pie." He's gearing up for a busy weekend: "I ordered 500 extra boxes and got my hair cut." 

Portnoy has enjoyed a few other local pies: Umberto's in New Hyde Park scored a 8.6 for its Sicilian (the regular pie got a 7.6), Dario’s in West Hempstead in New Hyde Park scored 8.3, King Umberto’s in Elmont, an 8.1. (In 2019, the former location of Sorrento's in Long Beach scored an 8.7.)

Portnoy’s beef against Long Island pizza is a legitimate one: There are indeed far too many pizzaioli who prioritize quantity of toppings over quality, and pay little attention to the integrity of the crust. But he should consider working his way through Newsday's Best Pizza list, a collection of really extraordinary pies.