Juneau: In Bocca al Lupo turns Alaska seafood into Italian nightly specials
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In Juneau, In Bocca al Lupo is the rare place that can feel like a neighborhood Italian spot and a serious Alaska restaurant at the same time, sometimes within the same bite. Chef-owner Beau Schooler runs the kitchen with a menu built around handmade pasta, wood-fired pizzas, and a specials sheet that treats seasonal produce and fresh Alaska seafood like the main event. The house line is “Alaskan food, with Italian flavor,” which sounds like marketing until a plate lands and it clicks: the structure is Italian, but the ingredients keep pulling the meal north.
The pasta and pizza are the scaffolding, and then the kitchen builds outward with whatever the week brings in: wild salmon when it’s fresh, other seafood when it’s right, and enough improvisation that repeat visits do not feel like reruns. The dining room stays deliberately casual, which is another way of saying it does not punish anyone for showing up in a rain jacket. It is still a serious restaurant, though, and the food lands with that small, satisfying thud of someone paying attention.
The dining room is intentionally casual, so expected everything from date-night outfits to fishing-boat energy at the same tables. That tone matters because it tells the truth about Juneau: the best meals are often eaten by people who have other plans after dinner, including perhaps going back on the water.
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