Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger are more than just TV chefs. They’ve been in business together for almost 40 years. They opened a quirky, little restaurant called City Cafe that helped to redefine the restaurant scene in Los Angeles. Today, they have a wildly popular group of Mexican restaurants called Border Grill and they’re active philanthropists. On top of all of that, Milliken and Feniger won the 2018 Julia Child Award - the first team to ever receive the award. The award is given each year at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, by the Julia Child Foundation, to celebrate people who’ve helped to change American food culture. Milliken and Feniger talked with Francis Lam about their careers, friendship, and meeting Julia Child for the first time.


Mary Sue Milliken, Susan Feniger and Julia Child (1993) Photo Courtesy: Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger
Francis Lam
Francis Lam is the host of The Splendid Table. He is the former Eat columnist for The New York Times Magazine and is Vice President and Editor-in-Chief at Clarkson Potter. He graduated first in his class at the Culinary Institute of America and has written for numerous publications. Lam lives with his family in New York City.