{"id":49564,"date":"2025-07-16T01:49:57","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T05:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/?p=49564"},"modified":"2025-08-06T12:31:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T16:31:06","slug":"italian-cheese-fox-and-the-knife-bar-volpe-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/recipes\/chefs\/italian-cheese-fox-and-the-knife-bar-volpe-boston\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian Cheese is on Full Display at Fox &#038; The Knife"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>Karen Akunowicz brings a taste of Italy to South Boston at her two award-winning restaurants<\/h4>\n<div id=\"attachment_49600\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/chef_karen-1.png\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49600\" class=\"wp-image-49600 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/chef_karen-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/chef_karen-1.png 800w, https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/chef_karen-1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/chef_karen-1-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/chef_karen-1-500x375.png 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-49600\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chef Karen Akunowicz helms Boston&#8217;s Fox &amp; the Knife. Photo by Nina Gallant.<\/p><\/div>\n<p data-start=\"87\" data-end=\"598\">Karen Akunowicz is serious about pasta. Her obsession started where many stories about falling in love with food start: in Italy. After a college-era visit to a friend\u2019s distant relatives in the Piedmont region, she was hooked on Italy\u2019s food and friendly people. \u201cThis little old woman welcomed [three of us] into her house, not knowing any of us &#8230; and it was that level of hospitality culture that completely drew me in,\u201d Akunowicz says. \u201cI was like, I have to understand this, I have to live here someday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"600\" data-end=\"1106\">She moved to Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region (aka the birthplace of Parmigiano Reggiano) in her late twenties after finishing culinary school and beginning her career as a chef in Boston, first at Ten Tables under Katherine Barrett and later at Michael Schlow\u2019s Via Matta. \u201cI had an apartment in Bay Village, so I sublet it, put everything I owned in storage, and packed a single carry-on suitcase,\u201d Akunowicz says. \u201cI moved [to Italy] with nowhere to live, and I could only say food words in Italian.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1108\" data-end=\"1615\">Despite not knowing the language, Akunowicz managed to carve out a place for herself in the local food scene. After a stage at a restaurant that had been arranged by one of her Boston chef connections, she put her pasta-making skills to the test at a pastificio (pasta factory), where she made tortellini every day starting at 3 a.m. For her final post in Modena, she worked as the sole chef at L\u2019Avian Blu Enoteca, a 30-seat restaurant that was equipped with a four-burner electric stove and not much else.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1617\" data-end=\"1966\">\u201cI did all of the shopping, all of the menu writing, all of the prep, and cooked all of the food,\u201d she says. It was this holistic approach to hospitality and the overall restaurant experience in Italy that informed the culinary ethos of her restaurants, Fox &amp; the Knife and Bar Volpe, which she opened in South Boston in 2019 and 2021, respectively.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1968\" data-end=\"2550\">The New Jersey native and James Beard Award-winning chef always knew it would be Boston when it came time to open a restaurant. \u201cI have the career I have because of this city,\u201d Akunowicz says. \u201cI feel like Boston has been a champion for me, so in return, I want to be a champion for Boston.\u201d Akunowicz and her partner, LJ Johnson, have also long prioritized Boston as the place where they\u2019d live, raise their daughter, Rogue, and open restaurants. \u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic city full of people who are really loyal, and I feel lucky that we\u2019re able to own and operate our restaurants here.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_49602\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Fox-2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49602\" class=\"size-large wp-image-49602\" src=\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Fox-2-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Fox-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Fox-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Fox-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Fox-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Fox-2.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-49602\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The bar at Fox &amp; the Knife. Photo by Nina Gallant.<\/p><\/div>\n<p data-start=\"2552\" data-end=\"3312\">To be fair, it\u2019s easy to be loyal to restaurants that serve such delicious food\u2014especially when there\u2019s copious amounts of hand-grated (yes, hand-grated!) Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Sardo involved. At Fox &amp; the Knife, you can choose from signature dishes like their Taleggio-stuffed focaccia (think grilled cheese with an Italian glow-up) or a stunning house-made ricotta-stuffed raviolo that gets the carbonara treatment with guanciale, farm egg, and brown butter. And if you\u2019re wondering why they make their ricotta in-house, you\u2019re not alone. \u201cPeople always ask me, \u2018Why don\u2019t you just buy it?\u2019\u201d Akunowicz says. \u201cWe season it and drain it to exactly the consistency we want; when you\u2019re using ingredients that are so simple, they have to be the best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3314\" data-end=\"3781\">At Bar Volpe, Akunowicz\u2019s very own pastificio, you\u2019ll find plenty of opportunities to eat formaggio-filled pasta, including impossibly delicate and delightfully decadent <a href=\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/recipes\/chefs\/ricotta-gnocchi-lemon-butter-caviar\/\">ricotta gnocchi with lemon butter and caviar<\/a>. When asked how they get their gnocchi so exquisitely pillowy, Akunowicz says they\u2019re \u201cbound together by hopes, dreams, and stardust\u201d\u2014in other words, they use as little flour as possible. \u201cThis dish is my version of caviar service reimagined,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_49601\" style=\"width: 997px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Credit-Alyssa-Blumstein.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49601\" class=\"wp-image-49601 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Credit-Alyssa-Blumstein-e1752551098883-987x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"987\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Credit-Alyssa-Blumstein-e1752551098883-987x1024.jpg 987w, https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Credit-Alyssa-Blumstein-e1752551098883-289x300.jpg 289w, https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Credit-Alyssa-Blumstein-e1752551098883-768x797.jpg 768w, https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Credit-Alyssa-Blumstein-e1752551098883.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 987px) 100vw, 987px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-49601\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bar Volpe&#8217;s caviar service involves light, fluffy gnocchi. Photo by Alyssa Blumstein.<\/p><\/div>\n<p data-start=\"3783\" data-end=\"4212\">One day, Akunowicz was teaching her pasta maker how to create light, fluffy gnocchi when an idea struck\u2014\u201cWhat if the gnocchi became the caviar service itself?\u201d she thought. The ricotta in the gnocchi stands in as the creamy dairy element, which gets topped with zippy lemon butter sauce, a sprinkle of chives, and a few hefty dollops of caviar. \u201cThis dish is proof that sometimes, the best ideas come when you least expect them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"4214\" data-end=\"4593\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">If you manage to catch Akunowicz on a day she isn\u2019t at one of her restaurants, prepping for her next food competition show appearance, or traveling for one of the many culinary excursions she leads, you\u2019ll likely find her in the kitchen with her daughter, a budding cheese connoisseur. \u201cKids love cheese sticks, right?\u201d Akunowicz asks. \u201cNot my kid\u2014she loves Parmigiano Reggiano.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"4214\" data-end=\"4593\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\"><em>For Chef Karen Akunowicz&#8217;s gnocchi recipe, click <a href=\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/recipes\/chefs\/ricotta-gnocchi-lemon-butter-caviar\/\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Karen Akunowicz brings a taste of Italy to South Boston at her two award-winning restaurants Karen Akunowicz is serious about pasta. Her obsession started where many stories about falling in love with food start: in Italy. After a college-era visit to a friend\u2019s distant relatives in the Piedmont region, she was hooked on Italy\u2019s food [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":49600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3386],"tags":[],"coauthors":[11769,1055],"class_list":["post-49564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chefs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.4 (Yoast SEO v24.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Italian Cheese is on Full Display at Fox &amp; The Knife | culture: the word on cheese<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Karen Akunowicz brings a taste of Italy to South Boston at her two award-winning restaurants Karen Akunowicz is serious about pasta. Her obsession started Karen Akunowicz is serious about pasta. Her obsession started where many stories about falling in love with food start: in Italy. After a college-era visit to a friend\u2019s distant relatives in the Piedmont region, she was hooked on Italy\u2019s food and friendly people. \u201cThis little old woman welcomed [three of us] into her house, not knowing any of us ... and it was that level of hospitality culture that completely drew me in,\u201d Akunowicz says. \u201cI was like, I have to understand this, I have to live here someday.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/recipes\/chefs\/italian-cheese-fox-and-the-knife-bar-volpe-boston\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Italian Cheese is on Full Display at Fox &amp; The Knife | culture: the word on cheese\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Karen Akunowicz brings a taste of Italy to South Boston at her two award-winning restaurants Karen Akunowicz is serious about pasta. 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She graduated from Boston University\u2019s Gastronomy master\u2019s Program in December 2018 and started at culture in March 2019. She is passionate about The Feminist Agenda, pizza, and regularly watering her houseplants.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/author\/madisontrapkin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Italian Cheese is on Full Display at Fox & The Knife | culture: the word on cheese","description":"Karen Akunowicz brings a taste of Italy to South Boston at her two award-winning restaurants Karen Akunowicz is serious about pasta. Her obsession started Karen Akunowicz is serious about pasta. Her obsession started where many stories about falling in love with food start: in Italy. 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After a college-era visit to a friend\u2019s distant relatives in the Piedmont region, she was hooked on Italy\u2019s food and friendly people. \u201cThis little old woman welcomed [three of us] into her house, not knowing any of us ... and it was that level of hospitality culture that completely drew me in,\u201d Akunowicz says. \u201cI was like, I have to understand this, I have to live here someday.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/recipes\/chefs\/italian-cheese-fox-and-the-knife-bar-volpe-boston\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/recipes\/chefs\/italian-cheese-fox-and-the-knife-bar-volpe-boston\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/recipes\/chefs\/italian-cheese-fox-and-the-knife-bar-volpe-boston\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Recipes","item":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/category\/recipes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Chef's Dish","item":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/category\/recipes\/chefs\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Italian Cheese is on Full Display at Fox &#038; The Knife"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/","name":"culture: the word on cheese","description":"Culture, America&#039;s magazine for cheese lovers, delivers stories about cheeses, cheesemakers, travel to gorgeous cheese regions, and practical tips on buying, presenting, and cooking with cheese.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/#organization","name":"Culture Cheese Magazine","url":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Culture-Logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Culture-Logo.jpg","width":545,"height":545,"caption":"Culture Cheese Magazine"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/culturecheesemag","https:\/\/x.com\/culturecheese","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/culturecheese\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8b9a8d3672e4e6a633497609bcd3a262","name":"Madison Trapkin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/521e3c415752cc21aaacb8fb56c3839f","url":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG_7517-150x150.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG_7517-150x150.jpeg","caption":"Madison Trapkin"},"description":"Former Editor-in-Chief Madison Trapkin is an Atlanta-bred, Boston-based writer. 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