SARAH LORENZEN
EXECUTIVE CHEF
ANDALUCA RESTAURANT,
MAYFLOWER PARK HOTEL, AND OLIVER’S

As a little girl, Chef Sarah Lorenzen was raised in Petaluma, CA; she grew up surrounded by lush lands steeped with nutrients good for growing grapes, vegetables and animals.  Her Grandfather was a turkey rancher, her parents raised orphaned sheep and little did she know the family raspberry patch, walnut trees and mom’s expansive garden would come to shape her passion for cooking.

Moving to the suburbs of San Francisco when Sarah was just 11 turned out to be a major turning point in Chef Sarah’s life. Her mom went back to work full time and Sarah’s major chore was to cook dinner every night; a chore that soon became a hobby.  Still to this day, Sarah has special birthday meals memorized for each member of her family. The joy of cooking had begun! By the age of 14 Sarah had written away to culinary schools-it was a true dream to be a chef.  While Sarah’s parents embraced all her passions, they thought Sarah would forget about such a foreign career concept. Not so! After high school Sarah went to Santa Rosa Jr. College and started her professional training by enrolling in their culinary program.  At the same time she worked for John Ash and Company as a prep cook.  Sarah still had her heights set on a formal culinary education but couldn’t figure out how to make it work financially. It was then that she applied for an apprenticeship at Marc Hopkins Intercontinental.  She was 1 of 8 selected for the highly coveted three-year program based in San Francisco. In 1998, fresh from her apprenticeship, Sarah was hired as a second cook at Parc 55 Hotel in San Francisco by none other than Chef Wayne Johnson (formally of Andaluca). And thus began a long mentor/mentee relationship between the two.  A year later, in 1999, Sarah was recruited by Chef Wayne to join the Andaluca team as a lead cook.  Eager to spread her wings, Sarah moved from San Francisco to Seattle, joined the Andaluca culinary team, was quickly promoted to Sous Chef and never looked back!  To round out her culinary career path Sarah took a short break from the kitchen to work in the front of the house.  She oversaw catering sales and an entire banquet staff before being drawn back to the kitchen as Executive Chef of Andaluca.

Rolling up her sleeves extends further than the kitchen for Chef Sarah. In fact it fits right in with daily life for Sarah and her daughter, Susie. Chef Sarah’s latest project included spearheading the creation of a community garden in Tukwila.  St. Luke’s Episcopalian Church was given a Seattle Foundation Grant of $5000 to help create the ‘Parish Pea Patch’ in which all harvested vegetables went to help the local Salvation Army Food Bank and special cooking classes for those in need.  The Pea Patch will continue to help those in need for years to come. One of Sarah’s fondest memories of yesteryear was making Stone Soup when she was just in Kindergarten.  Recently, she was more than happy to bring that same memory to life for her daughter’s 1st grade class.  With sleeves still rolled up, Sarah digs into many hands on projects; whether it be designing a garden, chopping those vegetables for soup, quilting with her friends or designing the menu for her Sunday supper club, getting in the trenches with those around her is what Sarah enjoys most.  She’s enthusiastically jumping right back in at Andaluca where she gets to reunite with a long tenured staff that is happy to welcome her as Executive Chef.