Bar Volpe

By Valerie Kolligian Thayer • February 29, 2024 • Dining & Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

The stars aligned for a small group of friends to gather recently at Bar Volpe in South Boston. We don’t see each other as a foursome as often as we once did, as one of the women moved away to the Chicago area quite some time ago.

Priscilla and I became fast friends when our daughters attended pre-school together and formed their own connection. They remained close, as did we throughout the girls elementary years, passing the long hours of young motherhood together, sometimes with a glass of wine while the children played. I was terribly sad when she moved away but we have happily stayed in touch and been able to reconnect from time to time over the years.

Priscilla was back in town to visit with her daughter who lives in Southie, and since I was planning to attend a panel lecture where the chef/owner of Bar Volpe was speaking, I thought why don’t we give the restaurant a try!

Karen Akunowicz is a well known figure in the Boston restaurant scene and you can read about her extensive career here. She has worked for some of my favorites, including Myers and Chang where she served as Executive Chef for seven years, ultimately winning a James Beard award for Best Chef Northeast. You can read about my experience at Myers and Chang here.

She also co-authored the book Myers and Chang at Home which I happened to do some recipe testing for – super fun – but never met Karen.

After Myers and Chang, and based on her experience learning how to make pasta in Modena, Italy, Karen opened her first independent restaurant, Fox and the Knife, also in Southie. My husband and I visited Fox during the pandemic and I remember we really enjoyed our meal there. In 2021, Karen opened Bar Volpe which is focused on the cuisine of southern Italy and where there is an emphasis on fresh pasta made daily in a state of the art pasta room on site. Karen has also appeared on many television shows, and now having listened to and seen her on a panel, she is a casting director’s dream. BIG personality and extremely well spoken. I really enjoyed listening to her story and her thoughts about the restaurant industry today.

Back to our visit. Let me just say I am excited to return. The food and service was terrific. Wine was reasonably priced and very good, and we just had a delightful time. The restaurant is big and has a sizable bar if that is more your style…

The menu has a little bit on offer for all kinds of experiences, including just a few nibbles or what are called Snacks and Street Food if you want to stop in for a light bite. A series of Antipasti, Primi and Secondi dishes follow and the menu is very vegetarian friendly.

Let me share what we enjoyed…

from the Stuzzichini or Snacks/Street Food section of the menu, we ordered this Panzerotti. A dough filled with spinach, artichoke and some cheese and then fried and served with a well seasoned tomato sauce, there was nothing not to like and I wish we had ordered more…

From the Antipasti section, we enjoyed this chopped salad that had lettuces, caciocavallo cheese, cucumber, oregano, sopressata and some white beans…

Also from the Antipasti, we enjoyed this gorgeous serving of burrata that was served on top of roasted delicata squash and garnished with a rose gremolata, sumac (lemony flavor) and some pine nuts. The dish was pooled with some divine olive oil…

On to the next course, we were not taking any prisoners so we ordered the Rigatoni All’Amatriciana, one of the famed Roman pastas (although traditionally served with bucatini). I loved this version and appreciate that to make pasta in house, rigatoni is a great option for this interpretation…

There were so many wonderful pasta offerings that it was hard to choose and will look forward to returning. Ricotta gnocchi with caviar, chives and lemon butter sound appealing to anyone? That will be my order.

For our main course, everyone except for me ordered the Merluzzo al Forno which was a cod served with a gramolata pangrattato (sauce with breadcrumbs), artichoke and saffron broth. It both looked beautiful and I am told was delicious…

And for me, I ordered the branzino all griglia which they did ultimately filet for me. The peperonata sauce and castelvetrano olives were delicious but I felt they overpowered the delicate branzino, one of my favorites. Oh well!

Since three of us have February birthdays, we couldn’t skip dessert so we ordered these divine mocha cannoli that were incredible, filled with a coffee flavored cream and studded with Valrhona chocolate and gold sprinkles. A very festive dessert indeed…