The day before Bon Appetit published the story that changed Joe Beddia’s life, the bespectacled Philly pizzaiolo happened to be in New York. Andrew Knowlton—at the time, the magazine’s restaurant editor—invited him over to the BA offices. “I walked out of the elevator, and he handed me the magazine,” Beddia says. I

t was the July 2015 issue; the cover star was a galette swollen with blueberries, and in the bottom right corner, etched into a purple splotch of berry syrup, were the words: “The Best Pizza in America, p.86.” Beddia knew a story was coming, but he didn’t know this story was coming. “It was very emotional,” he says. “I couldn’t even open it up. They fucking wrecked me.”