Oleana “Ana” Sortun is a chef, restaurateur and author in the Boston area.[1]
Sortun was born in Seattle.[2]
After she graduated from La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine de Paris, she came to Massachusetts to open Moncef Meddeb’s[3] Argo Bistro followed by stints, in the early 1990s, at 8 Holyoke and Casablanca, both in Harvard Square. Her restaurant Oleana opened in 2001.
Her husband, Chris Kurth, owns Siena Farms, in Sudbury, Massachusetts, where they live.[4] The farm is named for their daughter and supplies produce for Oleana.
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, Sarma, in Somerville, Massachusetts.
Sortun received the 2005 James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Northeast.