Bon Appétit: Pizzeria Beddia makes the best pizza in America

Pizza at Pizzeria Beddia at 115 E. Girard Ave.
Pizzeria Beddia/pizzeriabeddia.wordpress.com

There's nothing like a good slice of pizza. Just pure cheesy, doughy goodness. But have you tried the best pizza in the nation? 

Chances are, you have, according to Bon Appétit, which just declared the pizza at Pizzeria Beddia in Fishtown the "best pizza in America."

Bon Appétit's Andrew Knowlton recently spent a day with Pizzeria Beddia owner Joe Beddia to learn the ins and outs of this little hole-in-the-wall on East Girard Ave.

"As it turned out, Pizzeria Beddia was one of those beautiful eating experiences that still haunts me," he writes. "I wasn’t on vacation, and there wasn’t some well-designed setting distorting my senses. It was just me and that pizza in a forgettable space. But it changed everything."

Bon Appétit even put together a slideshow of how Beddia himself makes the country's best pies.

"There’s something admirably retro about making a dish — a great dish — the same way every time," Knowlton explains. "Beddia does just that. His pizza is mind-blowing, sure, but it’s the execution and the repetition that really hook me. It’s the always-crispy-chewy crust. It’s the invariably perfect ratio of sauce to cheese to toppings. Every time I get to eat it, I consider myself the luckiest person on the planet."

While praise and compliments continue to roll in, Beddia remains humble.

"Some locals call Beddia the Pizza Jesus. Others refer to him as the Jiro of Pizza. They’re all right. ­Beddia counters: 'It’s just f*#%ing pizza.'" 

Read more from Bon Appétit.