Revisiting Karen Akunowicz: Fox & The Knife, South Boston
Photo: Brian Samuels Photography
PROFILE FIVE IN THIS SERIES: REVISITING BOSTON CHEFS AND THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
What has been the major change since we last connected during our December 2019 interview?
Of course, the most major change is the Covid-19 Pandemic. I think this is the lens that we currently view everything through. In spite of all of the severe challenges that our society and the restaurant industry are facing, I think we have also seen unprecedented creativity and innovation from the restaurant community. The tenacity exhibited by restaurants all over the country is inspiring and outstanding.
Do you offer winter outdoor dining and can you describe it? What would I need to wear to stay comfortable?
Since we don’t have private patio space, we are not able to offer outdoor dining as the city of Boston shut all public outdoor dining down on December 1.
How is the restaurant, cooking and preparing your menus now as opposed to pre-pandemic times?
We still focus on making the food of Emilia Romanga and surrounding regions—and we are open for indoor dining. I definitely think differently when adding new dishes to the menu with concerns like will they travel well? Can we offer them for takeout?
We also continue to add new pastas and sauces to the Fox Pasta menu and have Sunday Supper takeaways, as well as specials throughout the week.
Please describe your winter menu? Any specials coming up for Valentine’s Day?
You can find the winter menu on our site below as well as our offerings listed on Goldbelly.com
We will have two Valentine’s Day takeout packages, as well as a prix fixe menu for diners at the restaurant. Details to be announced!
Photo: Brian Samuels Photography
Have you adapted a winter takeout menu? Can you describe it?
We offer everything on our menu for takeout in addition to our Fox Pasta menu with offerings including fresh pastas, sauces, ricotta and pesto for takeout, delivery and nationwide shipping on Goldbelly: goldbelly.com/fox-and-the-knife
Photo: Alyssa Blumestien
What dishes are the most popular for takeout?
All of our fresh pastas are extremely popular, as well as our Pollo al Mattone, Taleggio Stuffed Foccacia, Broccoli Caesar salad and our Wild Boar Tagliatelle Bolognese.
What do you see happening in the coming months?
Hopefully, the vaccine being widely distributed. The winter is tough, and we are all just trying to survive.
When the vaccine arrives and the pandemic subsides, what are the top three things you will do first?
The first thing I would do would be to open the restaurant back up at full capacity. I would love to see my family and spend time with them, and then take some time to travel. Italy is always calling my name.
Photo: Matt Kalinowski
Can you tell us your most challenging moment since the onset of the pandemic, and your most positive highlights?
On Sunday, March 15th Governor Charlie Baker announced that all restaurants had to reduce capacity by 50% and close by 11 p.m. So, I put my head down and spent the next few hours developing a plan with my staff, recalibrating the entire organizational structure of Fox & the Knife. At 7 p.m.—just four hours later—Baker announced that, actually, all restaurants and bars must close completely, except for takeout and delivery, until April 17.
The news came in the middle of our Holiday staff party, and it, of course, shifted the tone of the celebration. I had to furlough 30 employees. That moment of announcing to my entire staff that they were unemployed was a particularly dark moment of this year. I stayed up all night devising a new plan to put into action the next morning, so I could continue paying the seven employees we retained and keep our laid-off staff insured. And so was born Fox Pasta, the takeout-only operation that is supplying Bostonians, and now all of America, with fresh handmade pasta, sauces (including basil tomato and wild boar Bolognese), specialty soups, and meats and cheeses. Opening a pastificio was in my plans for the future, but it was born early out of necessity. Now we make hundreds of pounds of fresh pasta a day and ship nationwide with Goldbelly.
How have you been both personally and professionally grappling with life surrounding these tough times? What’s your source of relaxation and/or method of survival?
This year has been a roller coaster personally and professionally. Some days I’m just so damn proud of our team and our “Little Restaurant That Could,” and some days I cry for everything we all have lost. I don’t know that I’m too able to relax, but my method for survival is just to keep moving forward, one foot in front of the other, even on the hardest days. I lean on my spouse, LJ, and have the support of our team at Fox & the Knife.
Finally what would you like to see for 2021 in the face of a new chapter—medically, politically and spiritually?
We have an enormous amount of work to do as a country. I look forward to the inauguration, and hope that we see waves of change coming.
This interview appeared as an online exclusive in January 2021.
