Ep 68: From Kitchen Beginnings to Culinary Icons: Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken's Four-Decade Gastronomic Adventure

Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger are James Beard and Julia Child award-winning chefs, cookbook authors, media personalities, and entrepreneurs.Trailblazers from the get-go, the culinary grads (Susan from Culinary Institute of America in New York and Mary Sue from Washburne Culinary Institute in Chicago) met in 1978 at Le Perroquet, one of Chicago's best French restaurants as the first women to break into the all-male kitchen. In 1981, they teamed up to open City Café and changed the culinary landscape of Los Angeles forever by introducing eclectic dishes from around the world. With a partnership of over four decades, they are best known for SOCALO, Alice B., BBQ Mexicana, Pacha Mamas, and Border Grill restaurants, catering, and food trucks in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Together, Feniger and Milliken brought their innovative approaches to The Food Network with nearly 400 episodes of the Too Hot Tamales and Tamales World Tour series. They were invited to cook with Julia Child, in her PBS series Cooking with Master Chefs, successfully competed on Bravo's Top Chef Masters, and featured in an episode of the Netflix series The Chef Show.

Community, connection, and giving back have always been at the core of the chefs' values, and that passion is felt throughout the company. Susan is a founding member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation Board of Directors, sits on the L.A. Tourism & Convention Board, co-chairs the board of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, and provides visionary leadership for the Center's Culinary Arts Program, a three-month training program launched in 2019 to prepare LGBTQ youth and seniors from the Center for meaningful employment in the restaurant and hospitality industries. Mary Sue also serves on the Board of Trustees for the James Beard Foundation, the U.S. State Department's American Chef Corps, and is a founding member of Regarding Her, a national non-profit on a mission to advance women-identifying and nonbinary food and beverage entrepreneurs and leaders by way of innovative programs that UpliftHER Business, SupportHER Community, and AdvocateHER Industry.

Key themes emerging out of our conversation:

• Yin and Yang in partnership.
• The stronger everybody is, the better.
• Asking for help is a sign of strength.
• Support for one another's passions.
• Loyalty and Trust are pillars of the partnership.
• Navigating Rifts, sometimes compromising.
• Finding strength in uncomfortable moments.
• Allowing opportunities to shape the trajectory.
• Partnerships: Long-term relationships of any kind are tricky.
• Making decisions together and sharing equal responsibility.
• Drawing inspiration from Ayn Rand and other powerful women.
• Building a Strong Culture across stakeholders, honoring family recipes.
• Supporting the community and giving back brings rewards beyond measure.

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