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The Basics: Oleana restaurant information

Oleana

134 Hampshire St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-661-0505

Oleana restaurant information
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Chef-owner Ana Sortun believes food is comfort, and Oleana is a neighborhood restaurant all about comfort.

The menu centers on Mediterranean inspired dishes, layered with flavor and unusual spice combinations. Details like spice blends and pressed coffees set the restaurant apart.

The ambiance is rich in wood, stone and iron; the interior is a contrast of earth tones with soft lighting, shades of blue and handmade tabletops of golden onyx mosaic.

In winter, the wood stove is roaring. In warm weather, Oleana’s garden blooms and buzzes with outdoor dining.

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Ana Sortun

Chef at Oleana

Chef Ana Sortun at Oleana

As a teenager, Chef Ana Sortun's horizons were set far beyond her hometown of Seattle. After completing two years of intensive studies in French at L'Ecole Français, the nineteen year-old, armed with a fluency degree, crossed both continent and ocean to attend La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine culinary school in Paris. She received her Grand Diplome from La Varenne, and another diploma for wine studies from L'Academie du Vin to boot.

Après Paris, Sortun returned to Seattle and took on the role of Pastry Assistant and Rounds Cook at the Café Sport with Chef Tom Douglas. In 1990, she swapped coasts, moving to Boston taking a position as Executive Chef of Aigo Bistro in Concord, Massachusetts where she was voted "Best New Chef," by Boston Magazine.

With Aigo Bistro owner Moncef Medeb, Sortun opened 8 Holyoke restaurant in Cambridge, developing a menu that combined her classic French training with Mediterranean influences. Something new for traditional Boston, and Esquire Magazine took note, identifying her as a 'rising star' in the city's restaurant community.

It was her role as Executive Chef at Casablanca restaurant in Cambridge that put Sortun's name on Boston's culinary map. Her French-Mediterranean signature - now matured and bolstered by experience and confidence - garnered numerous accolades and press attention from the likes of The New York Times, Playboy, Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, and Gourmet.

Not surprisingly, Sortun credits her travels abroad as a major influence in her cooking. Travels which include kitchen time in France, Spain, Italy and Turkey came together in January of 2001, when she opened her own restaurant, Oleana, in Cambridge.

Known for unique Arabic-Mediterranean food, Oleana has received much local and national praise, including "Best Pastry Chef" and "Best Al Fresco Dining" by Boston Magazine as well as a nomination for "Best New Restaurant in America" by the James Beard Foundation. In the spring of 2005, Sortun was awarded the "Best Chef Northeast" by the James Beard Foundation. It looks like Sortun and Oleana have found their home - somewhere between Seattle and the Mediterranean.

In May 2006, Sortun published her first cookbook, SPICE; Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean, which was nomination for Best Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation and is a best seller according to the Boston Globe and LA Times.

Also in 2006 came the addition of Siena Farms, owned and farmed by Sortun's husband, Chris Kurth. The farm, named after the couple's daughter, provides the restaurant with most of its fresh organic produce.

In August 2008 Sortun and longtime Pastry Chef Maura Kilpatrick partnered to open Sofra Bakery & Café. Sofra, which is an Arabic word that means a picnic on a rug; a low communal table; a small square kilim rug to eat on, serves a menu of foods and baked goods, inspired mostly by the countries of Turkey, Lebanon, and Greece.

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Dictionary
 
Aïoli
1. noun A blend of ail (garlic) and oli (oil) in the parlance of the Provence region of southern France. Around here, we'd call it a garlic mayonnaise.
Basturma
1. noun Armenian cured and spiced meat.
Brioche
1. noun A soft, yeasty French bread enriched with butter and eggs.
Champ
1. noun An Irish favorite of mashed potatoes, green onions and butter.
Coulis
1. noun A thick puree or sauce.
Crème anglaise
1. noun Rich custard sauce, often used as a topping or plating accompaniment to fruits and pastries.
Crème fraîche
1. noun Cream that is allowed to set and thicken to a velvety rich texture.
Deglaze
1. noun To dissolve the remaining bits of sautéed or roasted food in (a pan or pot) by adding a liquid and heating. The resultant mixture often becomes a base for a sauce to accompany the food cooked in the pan.
Foie gras
1. noun Expensive, silk-textured goose or duck liver that has been enlarged by a process you don't want to read about if you're going to eat this dish.
Hummus
1. noun Mashed chickpeas flavored with lemon juice, garlic and oil.
Lovage
1. noun A celery-like vegetable.
Mizuna
1. noun Crisp, feathery salad greens from Japan.
Moussaka
1. noun A sort of Greek "lasagna" layering minced meat (often lamb or beef) and eggplant slices, sometimes with tomatoes, béchamel sauce and cheese.
Nougat
1. noun A sometimes chewy and sometimes hard sweet substance made from sugar, almonds or other nuts and honey.
Osso bucco
1. noun An Italian dish of braised veal shanks with white wine, onion, carrots, celery, and tomatoes.
Pancetta
1. noun Cured Italian bacon.
Pilaf
1. noun A seasoned rice or other grain dish in which the rice is sautéed before the liquid and other ingredients are added.
Porcini
1. noun Smoky, meaty wild mushrooms.
Prix fixe
1. noun French for fixed price, a complete meal that features a limited number of selections at a preset price.
Quinoa
1. noun These small, round, pale-brown grains look similar to millet and have a mild taste and a firm texture. Quinoa is considered a complete protein because it contains all eight essential amino acids.
Ragu
1. noun Tomato and meat sauce from Bologna.
Ramp
1. noun A wild onion.
Shank
1. noun The front leg of beef, pork, veal or lamb. Often a very tough cut of meat, the shank requires slow-cooking methods like braising.
Shiitake
1. noun Bold and meaty, these are called "black mushrooms" on Chinese menus.
Sorrel
1. noun A sour, buckwheat-related herb.
Spanakopita
1. noun Greek spinach pie.
Tamarind
1. noun A bittersweet spice made by drying and pressing the pulp from the fruit of the tamarind tree native to Asia and northern Africa.
Torchon
1. noun Method of cooking foie gras by which it is placed in a towel (torchon in French) and poached.
Tuile
1. noun A thin, crisp, French cookie.
Za'atar
1. noun An herb, or spice blend of sesame seeds, sumac, and herb za'atar that is used in Middle Eastern cooking, sprinkled on bread or on grilled meat.