Pi owner Chris Sommers is headed to Washington, D.C., next week, where he and Pi’s managing partner Ryan Mangialardo and Anne Schuermann will set up shop in the White House kitchen to make the restaurant’s cornmeal-crusted pizzas for the first family. (President Obama became a fan of Pi’s pizzas when he sampled them during an STL campaign stop last October.) The trio will bring Pi’s signature dough and sauce from St. Louis and will work with assistant White House chef Sam Kass to make three varieties of thin crust (Lincoln Park, North Beach Classico and East Loop) and two types of deep dish (Berkeley and Bucktown) pies. Sommers and his team also plan to make a few of the president’s other favorite food – dessert pies – and will bring along chef coats embroidered with eco-friendly restuarant’s tag line, “Green is the new black,” as a gift.
This article appears in Apr 1-30, 2009.