Boston Phoenix about "My Armenian Dinner"

"I greeted our hostess, Audrey Kalajian, and squeezed past the milk crates stacked with food to find professional chefs Ana Sortun from Oleana, Ruth-Anne Adams from Casablanca, Marc Orfaly from Pigalle and baker Viki Lee Boyajian I the kitchen, in their civvies and up to their elbows in prep , all ecstatic to be cooking an Armenian menu under the tutelage of Armenian herbal-tea importer Armen Mehrabian. This was an Armenian cooking class for chefs, punctuated by a seven-course meal. Who could resist?

Ana Sortun, owner and chef of Oleana restaurant in Boston, MA
…Ana Sortun was the executive chef and prize pupil. She had cooked last year with Armen Mehrabian at Oleana and was totally entranced by his knowledge of spices and herbs.
"He's a genius", she said. " Nobody on the planet knows what he knows about these herbs and these flavors"

Mark Mooradian, owner of MEM Tea Imports
He is the man single-handedly transforming your standard after dinner cup of hot water with teabag into a full-fledged "tea course" complete with tea sommeliers at many of the region's best restaurants and cafe.
His one of perhaps five loose tea dealers in the country.
"Boston's tea plate is the most sophisticated in the country", he said. "More people here than anywhere else are choosing to drink fine loose tea.
Armen's herbal teas are among my most popular teas - especially his " wild-mint", "Sevan", "linden", and "Ani blend".
The tea scene is definitely changing here in Boston. It used to be edgy to get a choice of Stash herbal teabags presented by waiter, now scores of local restaurants -top-line dining spots such as Legal Sea Foods, Locke-Ober, No.9 Park, Olives, Chez Henri, and Hamersley's, as well as more -casual cafe like 1369 Coffeehouse, Quebrada, Hollywood Espresso, Flour Delux, Cercle, Salamander and Diesel - have joined the loose-tea brigade, serving diners individual teapots containing filtered after heated to the precise temperature required to properly steep each variety of rare tea.
Moradians now has 160 restaurants, cafe, and lounges selling his premium teas. It is somehow so fitting that now that we've cleaned up Boston Harbor, we are ready to host a new version of the Boston Tea Party."

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Food and Wine Magazine about "Armenian Bean Pate"

Sortun learned this recipe from a friend in Armenia named Armen Mehrabyan, an exporter who supplies Oleana with great teas and with spice blends for fish. You can mold the pate in a terrine or bowl lined with plastic wrap if you prefer a different shape.

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