Joe Beddia opened Pizzeria Beddia in 2013 as a six-seat, cash-only Philadelphia shop with no phone and no logo. Two years later, Bon Appétit called it the best pizza in America, and the line never really stopped. Now Beddia runs a 140-seat restaurant with a Michelin Bib Gourmand distinction and a private “Hoagie Room,” and he’s just opened his first restaurant outside the country: Bar Etna, in London. We talk about the myth of the original shop, why the initial dough recipe hasn’t changed much, and how Beddia honed his skill in Madison, Wisconsin, of all places.
Matt Rodbard is the editor in chief of TASTE and the author of Koreaworld: A Cookbook, Koreatown: A Cookbook, a New York Times Bestseller, and Food IQ, a Publishers Weekly Bestseller and winner of a 2023 IACP Cookbook Award (Food Issues & Matters)