Proceeds from Dave Portnoy’s subsequent pizza pageant will profit a beloved New Jersey pizza establishment.
The Barstool Sports activities founder introduced in a video on social media Wednesday that income from his upcoming One Bite Pizza Festival will go to Al Santillo, because the New Jersey pizza icon works to rebuild Santillo’s Brick Oven Pizza in Elizabeth following a devastating January fire.
“Each penny I make goes to Al Santillo,” Portnoy stated. “We want Santillo’s, we want Elizabeth, New Jersey, (we want) this place constructed, so I’m not making any cash. Each cent (from tickets) that goes to me goes proper to Al. We’re going to rebuild Santillo’s, get them going. So that is for Al, that is for the pizza group, that is for native enterprise.”
Portnoy has develop into a distinguished, if not unlikely, determine within the pizza world. His “One Bite” video evaluations have featured over 100 New Jersey pizza outlets (together with Santillo’s) and eclipsed 600 million views on YouTube whereas gaining greater than one million subscribers. His pizza pageant can be held Sept. 14 at Randall’s Island Park in New York Metropolis
Portnoy and Barstool Sports activities didn’t reply to a request for added remark from NJ Advance Media Thursday.
Santillo’s suffered a ravaging fire in January, which severely broken the pizza vacation spot open since 1957. The blaze compelled the pizzeria’s rapid closure and for a time, it was unclear if Santillo’s would reopen.
However Santillo has since pledged to rebuild, and he now has the backing of one of many largest names in pizza. He stated Portnoy was one of many first one to broadcast that Santillo’s had gone up in flames.
“I’m in shock proper now as a result of I had no concept precisely what (Portnoy) was going to do,” proprietor Al Santillo advised NJ Advance Media earlier this week. “I knew it was coming, however I didn’t know in what capability.”
Since his insurance coverage declare was denied — “as soon as they hear the constructing is greater than 100 years previous, not too many individuals need to offer you hearth insurance coverage,” he stated — Santillo stated he’s not positive precisely how a lot the rebuild will value, however anticipates it will likely be “near one million {dollars}.”
“(Portnoy) is certainly a godsend. If I didn’t have him, as a substitute of me taking six months it could have taken a yr and 6 months, let’s say.” Santillo stated. “I come up with the money for to begin the job however I don’t come up with the money for to complete the job so (Portnoy) is hopping in to assist.”
A Santillo’s Volunteers Fb group additionally has been created as nicely for these seeking to assist within the course of.
So far as transforming goes, Santillo guarantees to maintain the decades-old vibe intact because the pizzeria is rebuilt.
“All the things goes to return precisely the way in which it was,” Santillo stated. “The primary factor right here is I’ve an quaint brick oven and that’s the guts of the entire operation. I’m the caretaker of this previous brick oven. My grandfather had one, my father had one and so they taught me to like the oven.”
The beloved brick oven has churned out among the state’s most vaunted pizza for many years, propelling Santillo’s to icon standing within the pizza-obsessed Backyard State. Santillo’s Sicilian pie claimed the No. 2 spot on NJ.com’s newest rating of New Jersey’s greatest pizzas.
Santillo has not too long ago frolicked making pies at Coniglio’s Old Fashioned on Sundays, although he took a hiatus from “Santillo Sundays” following a well being scare within the spring. He has since recovered, sufficient to make an look on the Jersey Eats Pizza Festival last weekend.
It’s been a tough yr for New Jersey’s pizza patriarch. However together with his well being and now backing from Portnoy for his rebuild, his spirits have been lifted.
“In case you reside lengthy sufficient you’re going to see miracles,” Santillo stated. “This a miracle for me.”
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