Susan Feniger: Border Grill, Too Hot Tamales, and Everything In Between

Susan Feniger is one of the pioneers of modern Los Angeles dining – and one of the first generation of chefs to bring bold, regional Mexican cuisine into the mainstream.

But her story starts in a parking lot.

In this episode, Susan shares how she set out – very intentionally – to learn from the kitchens she admired, landing at Ma Maison under a young Wolfgang Puck, and how she met her longtime business partner Mary Sue Milliken, eventually convincing her to move to Los Angeles so they could open a restaurant together.

That restaurant, City Cafe, was a 900-square-foot spot on Melrose where they cooked in the parking lot on two hibachis and two hot plates. And somehow… it worked. People noticed … including Julia Child – a connection that eventually led to City Cafe memorabilia being displayed at the Smithsonian.

What followed was a career defined by curiosity, from traveling through Mexico to explore regional cuisine long before it was widely understood, to building Border Grill into one of the defining restaurant concepts in Los Angeles and beyond.

Along the way, Susan and Mary Sue also became some of the original stars of the Food Network, hosting more than 400 episodes of Too Hot Tamales, helping shape what food television would become.

And wait until you hear just how strong that partnership really is… it involves a relationship story that could probably only happen in Los Angeles.

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Zev Yaroslavsky: Forty Years, One City, and a Career That Can't Happen Again

Zev Yaroslavsky spent forty consecutive years in elected office in Los Angeles — a run that, thanks to term limits, no local politician will ever match again. And it began with a race he probably wasn...

19 Elo 1h 34min

Alex Baskin: MTV, The Real Housewives, and Reality TV

Alex Baskin is the executive producer behind some of Bravo’s most recognizable reality series – most notably, The Real Housewives. But his story starts well before that. In this episode, Alex shares h...

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Madeleine Brand: Public Radio, Press Play, and Finding Her Voice

Madeleine Brand is one of those voices millions of people recognize — even if they don’t immediately know the name behind it. For more than a decade, she’s hosted Press Play on KCRW. Before that came ...

22 Heinä 51min

John Szabo: The Most Interesting Job in Los Angeles You Didn’t Realize Existed

John Szabo runs one of the largest and most quietly influential public systems in Los Angeles — all seventy-two branches of the L.A. Public Library — as the City Librarian. In this episode, John share...

15 Heinä 55min

Jim & Janice Hahn: Family Legacy, Sibling Rivalry, and Serving Los Angeles

Jim Hahn and Janice Hahn come from one of the most consequential families in Los Angeles public life – and are still shaping it today. Their father, Kenneth Hahn, served on the L.A. County Board of Su...

8 Heinä 1h 14min

Brian Toll & John Terzian: The Making of L.A. Nightlife

Brian Toll and John Terzian aren’t household names – but their venues are. Bootsy Bellows. Delilah. The Nice Guy. Poppy. Bird Streets Club. If you’ve seen a paparazzi shot of a celebrity slipping in o...

24 Kesä 58min

Robert Stone: Basketball, Cancer, and Following Your Heart

City of Hope CEO Robert Stone leads one of the most important cancer research and treatment organizations in the world. Under his leadership, the institution has expanded dramatically, now serving nea...

17 Kesä 1h 14min