23. Finding

3 . 1 4 1 5 9 2 6 5 3 5 8 9 7 9 3 2 3 8 4 6 2 6 4 3 3 8 3 2 7 9 5 0 2 8 8 4 1 9 7 1 6 9 3 9 9 3 7 5 1 0 5 8 2 0 9 7 4 9 4 4 5 9 2 3 0 7 8 1 6 4 0 6 2 8 6 2 0 a r t b y D A N I E L L E Z H A N G

in the

In celebration of Pi Day, Panorama reviews classic and specialty pies around St. Louis

SOPHIA LIU a&e staff CAROLINE TYRRELL a&e editor M arch 14, 1988, astrophysicist Larry Shaw created the first ever Pi Day to celebrate the influential constant on an annual basis. The number pi — π — approximates 3.14159 and trails on indefinitely without a pattern. Defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, pi appears in various formulas in fields like medicine, math and physics, making it useful for numerous calculations.

Originally born in Washington D.C., Shaw went on to earn his degree in astrophysics at Reed

College in 1961. Shaw worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Space Sciences Laboratory at the

University of California, Berkeley in astrophysics. He ultimately settled at the Exploratorium, a museum for science, art and technology, for 33 years until his retirement in 2005. Shaw specialized in creating exhibits where he gained recognition for his cosmos and spacethemed displays.

S u g a r f i r e P i e

Sugarfire Pie’s namesake offering provides a complex twist on the native St. Louis gooey butter pastry. Topped with powdered sugar, my immediate thought after the first bite was that it tasted rather overcooked and dry. However, the contrast of sweet and rich elements of the pie ultimately made up for the underwhelming texture.

Sugarfire Pie’s Mississippi Mud looks just like it sounds: a chocolate pie with a fudgelike texture. As I took my first bite of this pie, I knew instantly that I would be unable to finish the whole slice. The pie had an overwhelmingly rich chocolate taste, too much for one person to handle. The pie would be much more enjoyable if it contained a thicker crust to balance the overbearing chocolate.

M i s s i s s i p p i M u d

From its adorable appearance to its strong flavor, Pie Oh My!’s Key Lime was easily my favorite from the first bite. The creamy filling was bordered by a thick, hard-to-break crust, all topped with a fluffy whipped cream garnish. The key lime was the Goldilocks of pies, as the flavor was not too sweet nor too tart, and the crust was the perfect thickness to accompany the taste. Pie Oh My! has perfected the recipe, making it one of their most popular pies. Before biting into Pie Oh My!’s Pear Chai, I was eager to try a flavor that I had never encountered before, but once I took my first bite, I was very disappointed. From it’s appearance, the pear chai looks very appealing, with thick pear slices as its filling and a generous covering of sweet baked crumbs on top. However, I immediately found the flavor of the pie to be bland and unbalanced. The pears had a very weak and unconvincing taste, while the chai was too overwhelming. P e a r C h a i K e y L i m e