Top Chef’s Karen Akunowicz On Pivots and Pasta

Radio Cherry Bombe

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4.6 • 592 Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2020

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Karen Akunowicz, the chef/owner of Fox & the Knife in Boston and a James Beard award winner, has been dealing with a lot of highs and lows as of late. She’s a contestant on the current season of Top Chef All-Stars, but at the same time, was forced to furlough most of her restaurant team due to the current crisis. Karen quickly pivoted to takeout and delivery and has focused her offerings on homemade pasta and sauces, pantry items, “Spritz Kits,” and the most craveworthy hits from the Fox & the Knife menu. “I just thought that if I didn’t try, that I might look back and say, ‘Did I try my very hardest to keep us afloat, to keep going, to keep serving our community, to take care of our team?’” Be sure to tune in.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everyone, welcome to
0:10.0	Hey, everyone, welcome to Radio Cherrybaum, the podcast about women, food, and a whole lot more.
0:23.6	I'm your host, Carrie Diamond. If things sound a little different, well, they are.
0:28.1	I'm talking to you from my apartment in Brooklyn, New York. We're recording on both my iPhone and a platform called ZenCaster.
0:35.0	It's a whole new day at Radio Cherrybaum, just as it is for so many of you.
0:39.4	On today's show, I'm talking with Karen Okunowitz, the James Beard Award-winning chef behind Fox and the Knife,
0:45.6	an Italian neighborhood joint, as she describes it, located in Boston. Karen talked to me about how she,
0:51.7	like all restaurant owners, is figuring out a way forward for her business.
0:55.6	In Karen's case, that means focusing on pickup and delivery with items like homemade pasta, vocaccia, spritz kits, and special Sunday suppers featuring eggplant parmesan and bakeseedy.
1:06.7	I wouldn't mind some of that right now.
1:09.0	Also, Karen is currently a contestant on Top Chef All-Stars, which airs on Thursday nights on Bravo.
1:15.2	We recorded this interview before the most recent episode, so fingers crossed, our friend Podma Lakshmi didn't tell Karen to pack her knives and go.
1:23.3	Speaking of Top Chef, did any of you catch our Jubilee 2.0 after party?
1:27.8	Top Chef Judge Tom Colicchio made a special appearance and performed two songs during our talent show portion.
1:33.6	That was very cool of him to do, and we now refer to him as Tom the Bomb.
1:38.2	I also want to thank all of our competitors and judges.
1:41.1	It was a fun night, and I can't believe how talented all of you are.
1:44.9	Let's do some housekeeping. Thank you to our sponsors, Smithfield Culinary and the Wines of Rioja. What else?
1:51.7	Did you know you can get digital copies of the most recent Cherry Bomb magazines via issue.com?
1:57.1	That's I-S-S-U-U-U.com. I know it's hard to find Cherrybaum if you live abroad, so here's your chance to catch up.
2:04.8	They're $10 per copy and all the proceeds from the most recent issue will go to our covergirls charities of choice.
2:11.5	To learn more, visit issue.com backslash cherry bomb. Before we get to today's show, here's a message from Smithfield
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