WARMINGTON: This pizza may have cost Dave Portnoy $60,000, but was also a business-saving Christmas present

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Santa Claus came early to this Baltimore pizza shop and dropped off a Christmas present that will not only save a business but help feed the homeless too.

Thinking the salty social media character may be more adept to play the Grinch, not many would think of casting Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports as Santa, but it turns out he’s the perfect choice.

As posted Dec. 23, Portnoy and his One Bite Pizza Reviews crew dropped in to TinyBrickOven in Baltimore’s Federal Hill area where some seasonal magic happened. After meeting owner/operator Will Fagg, Portnoy learned this popular pizza place known for feeding homeless people in need of a slice was going to close for good on Dec. 31.

Portnoy asked him, “What would it take to keep this place open for a year?”

Fagg, a naval veteran, said if he could convince authorities to “grant his liquor licence application” that would help. But Portnoy persisted and when he heard Fagg say $60,000, he quickly declared “done.”

And he promised the pizza man would have the cash by Christmas. There’s no Scrooge in this story. Needless to say, this is turning out to be a great Christmas fairytale at a time when the world is in need of one. It would make a perfect Christmas Secret Santa-type movie.

“This is a Christmas miracle,” Fagg wrote on social media. “Thank you Dave Portnoy! We have had his name on our wall for over four years!”

Portnoy has done hundreds of his “one bite, everybody knows the rules” pizza reviews all over America and here in Toronto too. But this turned out to be one expensive slice of pizza for him. But a special one.

While Portnoy gave Tiny Brick Oven Pizza a 7.9 rating, Will Fagg gave Portnoy a 10 out of 10.

“Feels like this story has really struck a chord with the public,” Fagg told the Toronto Sun. “Everyone loves a good underdog story.”

He’s right. I do love this story. And this kind of story. In Toronto, we have Dino of Dino’s Wood Burning Pizzas who goes all over town delivering free pies to those in need, and Shah Nadeem at Shah Grill on Erin Mills Parkway in Mississauga offers a free meal to anybody who can’t afford to pay.

These are certainly better stories to tell than seeing criminals smash up jewelry stores, daily carjackings, constant religious protesting, a young cop dying at Christmas, or how in Toronto they replace Christmas Market with Winter Village to not offend some, which ends up offending all.

But sometimes goodness prevails. And you just never know who might be the person to deliver happiness or who might walk through your door to change your life. It happened in Baltimore this Christmas. It can happen somewhere else.

The best part of this may be that Fagg will be able to continue his charitable pay-it-forward initiative that endeavours to feed people. More than 1,000 have already benefitted and with Portnoy’s pledge, it means even more will too. There is also a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaigh for the feeding the homeless program which has raised more than $37,000 for the good cause.

Who knows how Portnoy’s gift will help TinyBrickOven going forward. Time will tell. Perhaps Torontonians making the trip to see the Orioles at Camden Yards in the summer will stop in and if things go well with his pizza sales and innovative oven business, perhaps he can even expand to Toronto one day too.

“I definitely want to visit,” said Fagg of Toronto, adding, “I try to lean into love, Joe. Pizza is love and cooking for others is a great honour.”

And thanks to the generosity of the guy known as El Presidente, Will Fagg and his staff at TinyBrickOven got their Christmas wish to be able to keep doing serving pies for at least another year and perhaps much longer.

jwarmington@postmedia.com