7 PA Pizza Places Among Nation's Best, Popular Website Says

PENNSYLVANIA — Another year, another ranking confirming what we already know: The best pizza in the United States is served in Connecticut, New York City and Chicago, but quality slices can be found in many other cities as well.

The Daily Meal released its list of the “101 Best Pizzas in America” at the end of September, and restaurants from 30 states made the ranking. The food blog considered nearly 1,000 pizzas and looked for such qualities as a nuanced sauce, well-distributed cheese, a flavorful crust and an overall balance of ingredients.

The “101 Best Pizzas in America” list is culled from a preferred pool of perfect pies. The Daily Meal then reached out to a diverse list of pizza chefs, bloggers, critics and writers, and asked them to take a survey on the pizza shops where they actually had eaten.

At the end of the process, Pennsylvania had seven pizza joints make the rankings. The food and dining website ranked Pizzeria Beddia as the top spot in our state and 15th overall in the country.

Here's what the Daily Meal says about Pizzeria Beddia, which it previously called PA's best pizza:

When Pizzeria Beddia first opened in 2013, it was a two-man operation – just Joe Beddia and his friend John Walker serving just 40 pies a night, four nights a week, in a cash-only, no-phone, no-bathroom space, with Beddia making every pie. After being named America’s Best Pizza by Bon Appetit in 2015, crowds began lining up hours in advance for a chance to snag one of the four available styles of pizza. But sadly, Joe finally tired out and closed up shop in 2018. The second coming of Beddia opened in Fishtown about a year later. This is a far more standard operation, with a full staff, a horseshoe-shaped bar, wine, kombucha on tap and a selection of small plates. Two things remain unchanged, however: the crowds and the pizza. There are still just four pizzas on the menu, and Joe is still using super high-quality ingredients and organic flour to turn out crisp, savory pies with uncooked sauce lending a bright zing.

Pizzeria Beddia was also recently featured on Time Magazine's 100 Greatest Places in the World list and was featured on Bon Appétit's Hot 1o list.

The other PA joints to make the list and their ranks are:

• No. 35 — Pizza Brain, 2313 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia
• No. 37 — Delorenzo's Tomato Pies, 1707 Langhorne Yardley Road, Yardley
• No. 53 — The Original Tacconelli's Pizzeria, 2604 E Somerset St., Philadelphia
• No. 61 — Pizza Shackamaxon, 115 E Girard Ave., Philadelphia
• No. 62 — Pizzeria Vetri, 1939 Callowhill St. and 1615 Chancellor St., Philadelphia; 640 W. DeKalb Pike, King of Prussia
• No. 101 — Arcaro & Genell, 443 S Main St., Old Forge

Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in New Haven, Connecticut was named the best pizza joint in the nation for the third year in a row.

Connecticut might have had the No. 1 pizza, but New York led the way overall with 28 pizza places on the Daily Meal list. New York was followed by Illinois with nine, California with seven, and Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey all with six.

Here are the top 10 overall pizzas in America:

10. John’s of Bleecker Street (New York, New York)
9. Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria (Chicago, Illinois)
8. Patsy’s (New York, New York)
7. Sally’s Apizza (New Haven, Connecticut)
6. Totonno’s (Brooklyn, NY)
5. Buddy’s Pizza (Detroit, Michigan)
4. Pequod’s (Chicago, Illinois)
3. Razza Pizza Artigianale (Jersey City, New Jersey)
2. Lucali (Brooklyn, New York)
1. Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana (New Haven, Connecticut)