Where pi meets pie: every day is Pi Day at Radii Pi

Published 4:00 am Friday, March 14, 2025

Celebrate Pi Day at Radii Pi, where every day is Pi Day. 

It’s serving up pizza pies with the pi mathematical concept as the backbone of the restaurant’s theme. 

“My husband, David Bowles, and the co-owner of Bethany’s Table and Radii Pi, came up with the name and concept of a math-themed pizza shop years ago, when we first started entertaining the idea,” Janet O’Connor, owner of Radii Pi, said. “He has always had an affection for numbers and math, and he saw the inherent connection between pizza and math.”

Pi, the little Greek symbol that looks like a two-legged stool, is a mathematical concept representing the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. 

The first three digits of pi, an irrational number that’s decimal representation goes on forever without repeating, starts with 3.14, corresponding to the date March 14, now celebrated as Pi Day. 

Whether it’s a sweet, custard-filled, cherry-topped dessert, or a marinara-laden, cheese-piled dough dish, people are using the day as a great excuse to indulge in all things pie. 

O’Connor is a veteran of Portland’s culinary scene, having attended Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland, later working at RingSide Steakhouse, Atwaters, Zell’s, the Heathman Hotel and Meriwether’s Restaurant & Skyline Farm before opening Bethany’s Table in 2008.

“Radii Pi is a takeout and delivery pizza shop that utilizes the finest ingredients and is passionate about the artistry of pizza making,” O’Connor said.

The shop focuses on a grab-and-go style of service, while offering traditional, handcrafted 12-inch Neapolitan-style pizza and a small selection of salads, pastas and drinks. It’s located about 15 minutes from Downtown Portland in Bethany’s Village, 15325 N.W. Central Drive, Suite J-4, in Portland.

Where pie meets pi

While the name, of course, points to pi or pie, what else about the shop lends itself to the mathematical phenomena?

Pronounced as “ray-dee-eye” pie, the name reflects the intersection of math and pizza pies. A radius of a circle is any of the line segments from its center to its perimeter in geometry. The pizza shop’s name comes from the Latin word radius, which means ray, but is also the spoke of a chariot wheel. 

One of their 12-inch pizzas has 12 radiuses, which also can be translated to radii; both are acceptable plurals of the word. 

Radii Pi’s 16-inch pizza slices and sourdough chocolate chip cookies are priced at $3.14 — the approximation of the mathematical constant. 

To celebrate, the pizza shop is giving away sugar cookies shaped like a pizza slice with each order. 

“We have done a lot of travel in Italy. Our pizza is reminiscent of a spring afternoon on the veranda in Naples, where we enjoy stunning views, then we wander through old neighborhoods, exploring narrow, lively streets lined with character-filled shops and coffee bars,” O’Connor said.

Radii Pi had its soft opening on Oct. 23, 2024, and an official grand opening in December 2024. It’s open from noon-8 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday. 

Read more about Radii Pi’s opening in Bethany Village at the Beaverton Valley Times.