Susan Feniger is an iconic culinarian, author, entrepreneur, and co-owner of Mundo Hospitality Group, which she runs with her business partner, Mary Sue Milliken. Milliken and Feniger teamed up 40 years ago to open the critically acclaimed City Café and CITY Restaurant in Los Angeles. The chef duo continue breaking barriers as female restaurateurs in a male dominated industry, pioneering sustainability initiatives and developing their offerings into a variety of culinary ventures.
Brought up in Toledo, OH, Feniger gleaned experience and inspiration from her mother, known for cooking up a frenzy to keep the freezer stocked with meals for spur-of-the-moment get-togethers. At her father’s small flower shop, she learned the essentials of hospitality and service. Both of her parents also gardened, so fresh ingredients became common in her household. After her first job at a local cafeteria in high school, Feniger went off to college, working the dining halls there, too. As she gained skills, she convinced her economics professor to allow an independent study in which she could complete her final year of traditional college in attendance at the Culinary Institute of America in New York.
During culinary school, Feniger worked at a local fish market and multiple French restaurants. After graduating, she made her way to Kansas City, MO, and talked her way into the kitchen at another French restaurant, at which she learned nearly every station—during a time when women in the professional kitchen were few and far between. She then made another groundbreaking move in joining the nearly all-male kitchen at Chicago’s Le Perroquet, serendipitously meeting the only other woman in the kitchen—Mary Sue Milliken.
After working for Wolfgang Puck at Ma Maison in L.A., Feniger went to the French Riviera to further hone her skills and returned to open City Café with Milliken in 1981, forever changing L.A.’s culinary landscape by introducing eclectic dishes from around the world. That evolved into the larger CITY Restaurant in 1985 and the introduction of Border Grill as a simple spot for regional street foods of Mexico. A James Beard Award that same year confirmed their impact on the nation’s cuisine.
Feniger and Milliken have since opened multiple Border Grill locations, food trucks, and a full-service events and catering business. With locations in Los Angeles and Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Border Grill serves street food-inspired regional Mexican cuisine with a commitment to conscientiously-sourced ingredients. The chef duo continue breaking barriers as female restaurateurs in a male-dominated industry, pioneering sustainability initiatives and developing their culinary offerings in a variety of restaurants that include BBQ Mexicana, Pacha Mamas, and SOCALO, a California canteen and Mexican Pub. Most recently, the duo opened Alice B. serving American classics with a West Coast twist in Palm Springs.
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.
In 2018, Feniger and Milliken were named the recipients of the Los Angeles Times’ Gold Award for culinary excellence and innovation in Southern California and honored that same year with the fourth annual Julia Child Award from The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, marking the first women to be recognized. The distinctions complement additional accolades, including the Elizabeth Burns Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Restaurant Association in 2013 and induction into Menu Masters Hall of Fame in 2014. Susan has co-authored six cookbooks, including Susan Feniger’s Street Food.
Beyond the culinary achievements, Susan is an active philanthropist, giving back to her community and using her platform to enact societal change. As a response to Covid-19, Susan and Mary Sue created Feed Folks, a culinary endeavor which prepares and delivers over 12,000 meals per week for first responders, health care workers, food insecure seniors and unhoused people in need of a delicious and nutritious meal.
Susan is a founding member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation Board of Directors, sits on 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.
Passionate about the environment, Feniger works closely with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Blue Ribbon Task Force to promote sustainable seafood and practices eco-friendly policies at all of her restaurants.