Dave Portnoy, owner and founder of Barstool Sports, came from the East Coast last weekend for the BYU-Utah football game. While in town, he continued his One Bite Pizza Reviews series, visiting Brick Oven and Nico’s Pizza in Provo, Utah.
Portnoy ranked Brick Oven 6.9, before quickly changing it to 6.8, and then he ranked Nico’s 7.4.
Brick Oven, which has been a Provo staple for 70 years, is used to game day mania, so they were able to keep up with the increased crowds following Portnoy’s review.
Nico’s Pizza, on the other hand, had a line out the door from 12 p.m. to midnight on Friday, completely selling out by the time the game began.
Brick Oven owner Dan George told the Deseret News he really liked Portnoy.
“He’s kind of a Bostonian type,” he said. “He’s very frank and forward, you know? And I like that. I like that you just feel like you get a really good opinion, and, I mean, he’s tried well over a hundred different places at this point, so he knows he knows good from bad.”
George has been running Brick Oven since 2009, but his family has been coming to the restaurant for much longer than that.
In the 1970’s, George’s mom was a big fan of Brick Oven while attending Brigham Young University. “She and her girlfriends would ride horseback out of Sundance all the way down the canyon. They’d come here and tie up their horses, order a pizza, and then go back up to where they were staying,” George said.
There used to be a spot to tie horses up right by the side door.
After Portnoy’s visit, Nico’s Pizza completely sold out
Nico’s Pizza owner Nate Bertasso told the Deseret News that the week leading up to the football game was busier than usual at his restaurant.
On X, rumors were spreading that Portnoy would come try Nico’s Pizza while he was in Provo. Customers throughout the week told Bertasso they’d come down from cities an hour away “to try it before he (Portnoy) did.”
Thursday night, Bertasso saw Portnoy standing in line outside his shop, so he went back behind the counter and told his crew, “It’s happening right now.”
As two of Bertasso’s sons made Portnoy’s pizza, the Barstool CEO told him he was tagged and DMed extensively on X by Nico’s Pizza fans, saying he should try it.
In the lead-up to Portnoy trying his pizza, Bertasso told the Deseret News, “I wanted to throw up. I’m confident in our product, but you’re just actively being judged, and you want a good response.”
Portnoy took one bite and said, “Pretty good.” He gave it a 7.4, adding, “I like how it’s thin; I like how it’s crispy. It’s pretty tasty.”
The next day, Nico’s Pizza had a line out the door from noon until midnight, and then on Saturday, they were completely sold out and couldn’t open their doors.
“I feel good about the score,” Bertasso said. “I mean, he makes the score based on whatever he wants to make it on, right? I was more interested in the comments. So for him to say it was crunchy, it’s chewy, it’s fresh. I could eat this every day — those are the comments I want to hear."
