You gotta love a pizza family named Pizza. Meet Angelo Pizza, who grew up working in at his late father Angelo’s since-closed namesake shop in Baltimore’s Little Italy. After studying food marketing and working in insurance, he flirted with frozen pizza as a career, making pies in his Philadelphia apartment.
In late 2020, opting for family tradition, he opened The Angelo Pizza (229 Market St. Tel: 215-964-9218. theangelopizza.com) in Old City near Independence Hall. Before succumbing to Lou Gehrig’s disease in November 2022, his father Angelo helped him run the shop. Tasty hand-tossed thin crust pies include The Paulie, featuring thin-cut slices of sweet pork, beef, and veal meatballs from his grandfather’s recipe and after his dad, the thick-crusted Big Ang with mozzarella and sharp provolone.
Joe Beddia at Pizzeria Beddia in Philadelphia (Photo by Jason Varney)
Transformed by artists and chefs in recent years, once gritty Fishtown in Northeast Philadelphia is now an inviting renaissance neighborhood reachable by subway, trolley or car. Hotspots include Pizzeria Beddia (1313 N. Lee St. Tel: 267-928-2256. pizzeriabeddia.com), which garnered Bon Appétit’s blessing as “Best Pizza in America” in 2015.
First generation Sicilian-American owner Joe Beddia, locally “the Pizza Jesus,” maintains his heavenly touch in a full-service space accessed from a back street. Formerly in hospitality, Beddia’s global travels included Tokyo, where the marinara pie at landmark Savoy Tomato & Cheese and his appreciation of the intense focus and execution of Japanese chefs, inspired his shift to pizzamaker.
In dramatic juxtaposition to the post-industrial landscape outside, the bright contemporary space, mixing Japanese and Scandinavian sensibilities, is as cheery as the staff. The smiling cloud sculpture overhanging the horseshoe-shaped marble bar is another happy signal, with other fetching elements including the glassed-in open kitchen, spacious dining areas, and intimate private event space. Artful, too, are the pies, scratch-made with whole milk mozzarella, Pennsylvania cellar-aged Royer Mountain cheese, and crushed New Jersey tomatoes, adorned with roasted Brussels sprouts, Sicilian anchovies, and other toppings.
Drive or take a ride share to nearby Port Richmond for fifth-generation Tacconelli’s Pizzeria (2604 E Somerset St. Tel: 215-425-4983. tacconellispizzeria.com). Opened in 1918 as a bakery by Italian laborer Giovanni Tacconelli before he shifted to pizza in 1946 when his sons returned from WW2, this BYOB (beer and wine) Philadelphia treasure serves tomato pie and pizzas, including the garlicky, peppery White Pie. Call ahead to reserve your dough.
Burrata Pizza at Figidini in Providence (Photo by @studio.dtw)
Pizza is personal, everybody has a favorite. If I had to pick one from all the deserving ovens above, my gold medal goes to the burrata pie at Figidini in Providence. Buon appetito!
