PITTSBURGH, PA —Ianni’s, a Delmont pizzeria that was gutted by a fire in September shortly after drawing national attention via celebrity pie reviewer Dave Portnoy, reopened on Thursday.
“We have missed all of you and being in Delmont!,” a post on the pizzeria’s Facebook page stated on Tuesday. “It has been a long and difficult road but God has blessed us. Thank you for your support and patience and everyone that helped with our inspections and set up.”
The pizzeria will have limited hours for at least the rest of the week but has pledged to be up and running full-time in the near future.
Just weeks before the fire, Portnoy, the founder of the Barstool Sports media company, visited Ianni’s on a tour of select Pittsburgh pizza places and posted a video on YouTube for his 1.34 million followers online.
The video showed Portnoy standing near the intersection of Freeport and East Pittsburgh streets in the quiet Westmoreland County community. When he opened the box, he was less than impressed with the pizza – until he started eating a piece.
“Tangy sauce, good crust,” he remarked. “I like this more than I thought I would coming out of the box,” he stated in the video. “It looks kind of sloppy and undercooked, but it’s not.”
Portnoy gave the pie a 7.7 score on a 1-to-10 scale.