Dave Portnoy in Florida for "One Bite" pizza reviews: Will he visit Naples, Bonita again?
Pizza previewer Dave Portnoy visited a Sarasota restaurant this week, offering his "One Bite" video shorts.
Will he make his way down U.S. 41 and review pizza joints in Lee and Collier counties? Well, Portnoy did just that in April 2021 when he offered his hot takes on pizza.
Portnoy, a huge fan of Boston and New England sports teams, earlier this year reviewed a Miami pizza restaurant and bypassed Southwest Florida for Sarasota.
But as News-Press food and restaurant journalist (and Rhode Island native) Robyn George points out, Portnoy could fit Fort Myers into his schedule March 17, St. Patrick's Day.
Why? Because the New York Yankees will visit JetBlue Park to play the Red Sox.
Anyway, here's where Portnoy visited in the 239 three years ago.
Grandpa Pizza's in Bonita Springs
Portnoy — who in 2003 founded the popular sports and pop-culture digital media company Barstool Sports — reviewed Grandpa's Pizza in Bonita Springs.
"Ooh, this feels good. This feels like New York," Portnoy said in the eight-minute video, which has more than 334,000 views on YouTube. "This is almost as good a piece of pizza I feel like you can have in Florida.
"This tastes like I'm in New York, even though they're from Pittsburgh," referring to the owners, Joseph and Antonietta Minetti.
"Why do I like grandpa? Because these two are in there working."
Industry Pizza and Slice Shop in Naples (closed in 2023)
Portnoy next visited Industry Pizza and Slice Shop, 2075 Pine Ridge Road, Naples. Industry Pizza opened in May 2019 in a shopping plaza along Pine Ridge and closed last July.
He posted the video on his Twitter and YouTube channels. The YouTube video has about 490,000 views.
"It's a good-looking pie," Portnoy said at Industry Pizza after he opened the box and looked at the pizza, then picked up a slice.
"A little on the heavy side. I don't know what this is going to be. It seems like kind of a fancy pizza."
After his first bite, Portnoy called it "almost artisan pizza ... good undercarriage, a lot going on, though. It's not light but it's not heavy but not light."
LowBrow Pizza & Beer in East Naples
Portnoy also stopped by LowBrow Pizza & Beer, along U.S. 41 East, in Naples.
The video on his page "One Bite with Davey Pageviews" has more than 400,000 views. In the video, Portnoy says LowBrow has "a good vibe in there" and that the pizza was good too."
He rated LowBrow's pizza 7.1 out of 10 before discussing his love for a Star Wars character.
"Baby Yoda, eating a slice of pizza? I dropped 650 bucks on it," he said, holding up a painting of just that. "I'd kill for Baby Yoda. He's the cutest little muffin of all time. Suddenly I have art in my new Miami house."
Portnoy then talked for the remaining couple minutes of the 4?-minute video trying to remember a verse of the Garth Brooks song "Friends In Low Places."
Dave Osborn is the regional features editor of the Naples Daily News and News-Press. Follow him on Instagram and Threads @lacrossewriter and on X (formerly Twitter) @NDN_dosborn.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Pizza reviewer Dave Portnoy in Florida, visited Naples, Bonita in 2021