Oleana “Ana” Sortun is a chef, restaurateur and author in the

Boston area Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston, the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England, and its surrounding areas, home to 4,941,632. The most s ...

Biography

Sortun was born in Seattle. After she graduated from La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine de Paris, she came to Massachusetts to open Moncef Meddeb’s Argo Bistro followed by stints, in the early 1990s, at 8 Holyoke and Casablanca, both in

Harvard Square Harvard Square is a triangular plaza at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue (Boston), Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Brattle Street and John F. Kennedy Street near the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, C ...

. Her restaurant Oleana opened in 2001. Her husband, Chris Kurth, owns Siena Farms, in

Sudbury, Massachusetts Sudbury is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 18,934. The town, located in Greater Boston's MetroWest region, has a colonial history. History Incorporated in 1639, the boundar ...

, where they live. The farm is named for their daughter and supplies produce for Oleana.

Restaurants

In addition to Oleana, she opened Sofra Bakery with a partner Maura Kilpatrick in 2008. Sofra has both a retail store and an "informal Middle Eastern café." In 2013, she partnered with Chef de Cuisine Cassie Piuma to open a

meyhane A ''meyhane'' or ''pothouse'' (from ) is a traditional restaurant or bar (establishment), bar in Turkey, Balkans, Azerbaijan and Iran. It serves alcoholic beverages like wine, rakı, vodka, or beer, with meze and traditional foods. Etymology ...

, Sarma, in

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 81, ...

Honors and awards

Sortun received the 2005

James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awar ...

for Best Chef in the Northeast.

Publications

* ''SPICE: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean'' 2006 *''Soframiz: Vibrant Middle Eastern Recipes from Sofra Bakery''

TV appearances

Top Chef Masters (season 2) The second season of the American reality competition show ''Top Chef Masters'' was announced on October 22, 2009. In addition, it was announced that Gail Simmons would be added as a critic. The season premiered on April 7, 2010 with 22 chefs co ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sortun, Ana Living people Chefs from Seattle Chefs from Massachusetts American women chefs James Beard Foundation Award winners People from Sudbury, Massachusetts American cookbook writers Year of birth missing (living people)