Katie Button

Five-time James Beard Foundation Award nominee Katie Button is the co-founder of Asheville, North Carolina's beloved Cúrate, a collection of restaurants, online marketplace, wine club and culinary journeys designed to connect people with the Spanish experience and lifestyle.

Button completed a Masters degree in Biomedical Engineering in France before her passion for food and travel, Button left a PhD program in neuroscience to pursue a career in the food world, Button honed her craft in the kitchens of some of the world's best chefs, most notably Ferran Adrià and José Andrés, before venturing out to open Cúrate Bar de Tapas with husband Felix Meana and her family.

Over more than a decade, the Cúrate brand has expanded to include Cúrate Trips, Cúrate at Home & Cúrate Wine Club, and most recently a second restaurant, La Bodega by Cúrate. Cúrate is part of the Katie Button Restaurants family, which includes Katie Button Media and Magnolia Network’s From The Source, a series exploring the origins and stories behind different ingredients.

Among her many accolades, chef Katie Button was featured as one of Food & Wine's 2015 Best New Chefs. Cúrate was named as one of the "40 Most Important Restaurants of the Past 40 Years" by Food & Wine and one of the "Most Important Restaurants of the Decade" by Esquire. In 2016, Button released her first cookbook, Cúrate: Authentic Spanish Food from an American Kitchen.

In 2022, the James Beard Foundation nominated Katie for Best Chefs in America: Southeast award and Cúrate Bar de Tapas won the Outstanding Hospitality award. Throughout it all, Katie continues to challenge the industry standard, steadily building comprehensive benefits to create a sustainable work environment for her living wage-certified restaurant group. She also is an active participant in the James Beard Foundation's Impact programs and serves on the Independent Restaurant Coalition's leadership team.

At home, Katie and Felix enjoy creating moments that reflect the combination of their upbringings, entertaining friends and spending time with their two young children, Gisela and Lalo.