Breaking Down Barstool’s Kosher Pizza Reviews & Scores in NYC

[Forewarning, some of the videos linked in this article contain inappropriate language]

Dave Portnoy, aka Stool Presidente, is the bombastic founder of Barstool Sports, a hugely popular sports media publisher with men and college kids. It’s a non-traditional media outlet that takes advantage of the personalities at the company and saying outlandish things.

One of the many ongoing projects by Barstool’s “presidente” is his near daily pizza reviews, 99% of which are at non-kosher pizzerias around the country (mainly NY & New England, but often in random cities nationally). (Portnoy is Jewish but appears to be unaffiliated and openly admits he’s not aware of what kosher is).

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ANATOMY OF A KOSHER BARSTOOL PIZZA REVIEW So this is an odd post but I’ll break it down for you guys. This dude @stoolpresidente (Dave Portnoy) is a Jewish guy from Boston who started this sports media site @barstoolsports that’s become super popular over the last few years, especially with guys, college kids, etc. One of the things that Dave does is review pizza. Every, single, day. All types of pizza, 99% non-kosher pizza, but on occasion he visits a kosher joint. He scores all of the pizza on a scale of 0-10, with anything above a 7 being really good in his book. Last week he hit up PIZZA TIME on Ave J in #Brooklyn and the nearby @yoflatbush kids were going nuts. Two big things Dave looks at are “flop” (see second image) – does the pizza have texture or is it floppy when you fold it properly with one hand (like New Yorkers should!). The second is scoring based off of One Bite (“everybody knows the rules”), which is really more like 7-8 bites. (He’s super sarcastic, which I enjoy). Cutting to the chase, he said that Pizza Time has excellent pizza and can’t tell what makes it different from non-kosher #pizza, scoring it an 8.2, which is a big deal coming from him. Ironically, down the block from PT is @difarapizzanyc, what he and many non-kosher eaters call the best pizzeria in the country (def not kosh). In the same video, he pops in through the back of their shop, and gets to make and eat one of their famous slices. I wish they could make a kosher run, even just once. What’s your take on Pizza Time and Dave’s review? You can watch it on his channel directly. #barstoolpizzareview #onebiteeveryoneknowstherules #daveportnoy #stoolpresidente #elpresidente #kosherpizza #brooklynpizza #avej #brooklyneats #kosherfoodies #koshernyc #kosherbrooklyn #pizza #? #barstoolkosher

A post shared by Yeah Thats Kosher ? DANI KLEIN (@yeahthatskosher) on Oct 27, 2019 at 8:09am PDT

Over the few years of Dave’s pizza reviews, he’s manage to hit up and review 4 kosher pizza spots across NYC, with surprising results.

I think most of us kosher folk assume that the kosher pizza we enjoy would pale in comparison to the non-kosher variety. So let’s look at how the Barstool Presidente’s pizza reviews of kosher pizzerias stack up. 

PIZZA TIME, BROOKLYN

An old favorite on Ave J, especially for Yeshiva of Flatbush students. Dave rates this an 8.2/10. This is a high score as he rarely doles out anything over 7.5. The lack of flop in the pizza is impressive. 

The reviews on the One Bite App (part of Barstool’s media empire) are actually even higher from the general community, including many non-Jews trying kosher pizza for the first time. (He finishes the video by heading down the block to the non-kosher Di Fara’s pizza, presumably one of the best non-kosher pizzas in the country. Oh well.)

SABA’S PIZZA, MANHATTAN

This Upper East Side location is a low-key pizza maven, winning accolades for Jews and non-Jews alike. It sure pleased Dave, scoring it an 8.4/10 in one of his old school reviews. 

MEZZE, QUEENS

Dave randomly finds this new kosher pizzeria and learns (well, not really) what kosher means. It’s also his first encounter with a kosher pizzeria serving sushi, the infamous pizza-sushi combo us kosher keepers know well. 
The pizza was described as non-descript, but not awful, earning a 6.8/10 score… and the sushi he tried, also was given then same 6.8 score. 

BRAVO KOSHER PIZZA (MIDTOWN), MANHATTAN

Most people don’t realize but Bravo’s first kosher pizzeria is less than 8 years old, when it took over the non-kosher place of the same name on Broadway. Dave’s review is at that original location, before they moved around the corner to their current larger location. 

The review comes right outside their sukkah, and you can see he needs some Chabad in his life. Anyway, he says really nice things about Bravo’s Pizza, scoring it an 8.3/10. 

CAFE VIVA, MANHATTAN

A popular eatery on the UWS, Cafe Viva is one of 3 kosher pizzerias in the neighborhood. Dave’s review here did not last long and it did not bode well for the review, scoring Cafe Viva a 1.8/10.

Overall, when you look at the scores he doles out generally, the kosher places have fared fairly well, but admittedly, he’s hit up 3 excellent kosher pizzerias. Looking at all 5 together, we see an average score of 6.7/10, which is pretty darn good, even when you factor in the one outlying really low score.

I’d love to see him visit a few more including Fialkoff’s in Monticello, Amnon’s in Borough Park, Abaita in Midtown, Jerusalem Cafe in Midtown, Benny’s in Flatbush, and Green Olive Pizza in New Hyde Park. 

What other kosher pizzerias do you think Dave should visit and review? Let us hear your thoughts in the comments below.