Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger

04/21/20 • 33 min

Chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken are the owners and operators of the Border Grill restaurants which they began in 1985. They also operate BBQ Mexicana, a fast casual concept with two Las Vegas locations, and Socalo which opened in late 2019 in Santa Monica. Mary Sue serves on the boards of both Share Our Strength and the James Beard Foundation and she was previously selected to join the U.S. State Department on the American Chef Corps to promote diplomacy through food in Pakistan, Malta, and Italy. Susan Feniger sits on multiple boards in LA including the L.A. LGBT Center and co-founded Chefs Collaborative. In 2018, they were the recipients of the fourth annual Julia Child Award from The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, marking the first women to be honored. And also that same year, the duo received the 2018 Gold Award from the Los Angeles Times for culinary excellence and innovation in Southern California.

Photo by Bart Nagel

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Photo by Bart Nagel

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Christine Cikowski and Josh Kulp of Honey Butter Fried Chicken on COVID19

In 2005, just months after they graduated from Kendall College of Culinary Arts in Chicago, Christine Cikowski and Josh Kulp founded Sunday Dinner Club a sort of dinner party-ish experience that has grown into a community dining space holding multiple dinners per month. In 2013, after eight successful years of running their sort of underground concept, they decided to open their first true brick and mortar restaurant launching Honeybutter Fried Chicken in Avondale Chicago. The restaurant opened with goals beyond profitability: living wages, paid parental leave, and health insurance for staff. Josh and Christine have always been strong advocates and community leaders. Josh was selected to participate in a James Beard Foundation Chef’s Policy Boot Camp and has spoken in congressional briefings regarding issues relating to restaurant wages and paid sick time. Christine is the chef chair of the Step Up Women’s Network and they both were part of the Mayor’s Task Force for Working Families, which successfully spurred earned sick time legislation within the City of Chicago. They both joined me from their respective homes in Chicago. A quick note that at times the audio quality isn’t the greatest so you’ll hear a bit of static and distortion during a few points in the interview.

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Dan Meiser and James Wayman

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