Buzz

Foodies no longer need to reside in the Boston area to experience Karen Akunowicz’s incredible Italian cuisine at Bar Volpe and Fox & Knife. In an exclusive interview with Tasting Table, Chef Karen told us all about her new venture, Fox Pasta, which ships her freshly-made pasta across the nation via Goldbelly. 

A “Top Chef” fan favorite, Akunowicz is known as “Boston’s Queen of Pasta,” having spent a year mastering the art of regional pasta in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. Her dedication to fresh, from-scratch pasta can now be enjoyed whether you are dining in one of her restaurants or in your own dining room. Either way, these dishes will make you feel like you are sitting outside a trattoria in the Italian countryside with each bite. In addition, the concept of her restaurants embraces the spirit of aperitivo, beckoning convivial gatherings of friends and family around delicious food, so invite some loved ones to join you while you enjoy your Fox Pasta.

How it works

Goldbelly is a company that delivers freshly-made food from celebrated chefs and restaurants nationwide. Chef Karen Akunowicz is among the list of chefs they work with, which also includes Chef Marcus Samuelsson, owner of Red Rooster and regular on the Food Network; Chef José Andrés, legendary restauranteur and humanitarian; and Chef David Chang, owner of Momofuku, as a few examples. You can shop by occasion, cuisine, chef, or even region —  and all goodies are shipped in a temperature-controlled truck, so they are perfect when they arrive.

Born out of pandemic pivots, Fox Pasta was a way for Chef Karen to continue to make fresh food for regulars when Covid forced restaurants to close their doors. At first, it was a pick-up service that morphed into a much larger scale out of popularity. The comfort of fresh and inviting pasta was a welcome commodity during that time and continues to put smiles on diners’ faces. Chef Karen was excited to share her favorite plates of pasta with the nation.

“We ship all of this nationwide with Goldbelly. We can ship our fresh pastas and sauces as well as our focaccia and t-shirts and merch, and things like that,” she told us. “You can get a little bit of our pasta magic anywhere in the country.”

Fox Pasta options

On the Goldbelly website, there is a range of Karen Akunowicz’s pasta styles to choose from, as well as amount specifications from two to four people or even a variety gift basket. The sauce comes in precious containers, and toppings like olives and parmesan are included. Fresh focaccia is also available.

Chef Karen told us more about some of the offerings, saying, “We have a pastaficio, where we make all of our pastas in-house. Right now, we have bucatini, we have rigatoni, and we sometimes have casarecce, radiatore, and spaghetti. We have three different sauces, currently. We have amatriciana, tomato basil, and our wild boar bolognese — talk about fall. That’s Tuscany in a jar. We also sell our house made ricotta. We sell our Taleggio stuffed focaccia.” All of these drool-worthy dishes show up right to your door, but if you are in the Boston area, cozy up to the bar to enjoy them with one of the many Negronis they have on tap.

Visit Fox & the Knife’s Goldbelly page to order Chef Akunowicz’s Boston flavors and have them shipped directly to your door.