Squirrel Hill's first Asian bakery, Bubble π [Pi] Baking Arts, has closed and is moving from its home at 2218 Murray Ave. It opened in 2007 and was joined by two other Asian bakeries, Sumi's Cakery in 2011 and Pink Box in 2014, on the same street. The Pittsburgh City-Paper profiled Bubble Pi in 2009:
"I'm sort of combining Eastern and Western styles of baking," [Ivy Lin] says. Many of the recipes and ideas she picked up while traveling extensively. When you ask how long she's been baking this wide selection, she laughs: "All my life!"
Bubble π has been on Murray Avenue for two years now; before that, Lin operated Asia Tea House, in Schenley Plaza. "I was selling my bubble tea. That was my specialty at the time," she says. Though the tea sold briskly in the warm months, "when it cooled down, nobody bought it. Now I'm more focused on my pastries and designed cakes."
Open seven days a week, Bubble π also offers its namesake beverage -- the fruit- or tea-based drink with tapioca pearls -- as well as coffees, shaved ice and a few simple lunch items.