825: Inside Pizzeria Beddia with Joe Beddia

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**Joe Beddia** (1:07)
There's always like these pizza places, like, I don't like the dough, we're not opening today. I'm like, what are you doing? Like, how did you mess it up that much? Did you forget salt or did you not put the yeast in? Like I've never had like a batch where it was like, we can't eat this.

**Matt Rodbard** (1:24)
This is TASTE. I'm your host, Matt Rodbard.
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 stopped. Now Beddia runs a 140 seat restaurant in the Michelin Bimp Gourmand and a private Hoagie Room. And he just opened his first restaurant outside the country, Bar Etna in London. On this episode, we talk about the myth of the original shop, why the original dough recipe hasn't changed much, and how he honed his skills in of all places, Madison, Wisconsin. I hope you enjoy this episode.
Joe Beddia, welcome to This Is TASTE. It's so cool to meet you.

**Joe Beddia** (2:19)
Thanks for having me.

**Matt Rodbard** (2:20)
You're rad. I love your pizza.
And you're cookbook too.

**Joe Beddia** (2:24)
Thanks.

**Matt Rodbard** (2:25)
We're not really gonna talk about the book, but great book, so much to cover. You're one of America's known pizzaiolos.

**Joe Beddia** (2:33)
That's weird to think about, but I'll take it.

**Matt Rodbard** (2:36)
No, you really are. And I think it's legit.
I get to have a little bit of pizza around the country and your work is amazing. You've opened recently in London, and we're gonna talk about that.

**Joe Beddia** (2:44)
Yeah.

**Matt Rodbard** (2:45)
And you've spent a lot of time there. What are some restaurants in London that you're interested in?

**Joe Beddia** (2:49)
Oh, man. London was just, it was awesome. I mean, just like, I stayed in Dalston for a lot of it. I was there for two months, which is like almost too long. And that was like a Turkish heavy neighborhood. And I had a favorite place there, Uma 2000

**Matt Rodbard** (3:06)
Uma 2000

**Joe Beddia** (3:07)
Yeah. And it was just like awesome. And like I ate there so much, I got sick of it. I went to my first real St. John experience, like a long Sunday lunch. Yeah. It's just as, you know, all those places, you know, you hold like that are historic. I feel like when you go to them and they're great, you're just like so thankful because it, you know, it is, you know, what they say. Yeah, yeah. Kind of, yeah. It's like going to like, shape and ease or Zuni Cafe or something when it's like perfect. You're like, oh, this is, there's a reason.
Where do we go? Cafe Deco was great. Tolingtons, which is my partner's pub.
Plonk?

**Matt Rodbard** (3:57)
Plonk.

**Joe Beddia** (3:58)
You know this place?

**Matt Rodbard** (3:59)
I know.

**Joe Beddia** (4:00)
It's like a great wine bar with this Australian chef. Oh, it was like amazing.

**Matt Rodbard** (4:05)
Makes sense the wine term, Plonk.

**Joe Beddia** (4:07)
Yeah.

**Matt Rodbard** (4:07)
Yeah, I get it. I get it. It's cool.
It definitely says a lot. Well, I really wanted this conversation to go in a lot of areas, because you have a cool career. We're going to talk a little bit about before you opened your pizza shop in Philly, you had some other experiences. But just from the jump, tough question, I realize, but I mean, can you define your own pizza style? I have my own thoughts.

**Joe Beddia** (4:30)