Update 4:50 p.m.: The Friday line reportedly started even earlier, at around 10:30 a.m.
Some conclusions you want to put off forever. That you might die never having eaten at Pizzeria Beddia is one of those things. But if you haven’t been yet, it’s time to accept the new reality.
With only two weeks left in its five-year run, Joe Beddia’s Fishtown shop is even busier than before. Which is both hard to comprehend — the place was already a nonstop sell-out destination — and easy to understand, because only 40 of the pies Bon Appetit called “best in America” appear each night, and the closing date is set for March 31.
Nine more days of service = 360 more Pizzeria Beddia pies. Then no more. Ever.
Which is why people have started lining up at at 115 E. Girard Ave. at 1 p.m. Yes, people are queueing at one o’clock in the afternoon for a pizza that won’t come out of the oven until 5:30 or later.
“It’s crazy,” Beddia said. “Need a break.”
He’ll get one when April arrives, but it won’t be all that long. Because a second Fishtown pizzeria is already in Beddia’s plans, as he confirmed on Instagram last month.
The new place is likely to also have a liquor license, which would mean actual seats and possibly even a floor staff. However, construction won’t start until May, he said, so there’s no official timeline for when it might launch. There’s also no indication of what exactly Pizzeria Beddia Vol. 2 will serve — though the @pizzacamp account has been filling up with “grandma” style and pan-style pies lately.
No matter what PB2 serves, it won’t be the same. “We all know it’s not going to be as good,” Beddia wrote in post about the new spot. “I mean it’s not really that good now it’s just all hype.”
That hype is strong. On Wednesday, the night’s allotment of pies sold out completely by 3:30 in the afternoon.
If you’re the kind of person with the drive and organizational wherewithall to pull off a midday trip for a pizza that’ll arrive many hours later, Pizzeria Beddia is open Wednesday through Saturday through the end of the month. It will be closed on St. Patrick’s Day.
