Mary Sue Milliken is a James Beard and Julia Child Award-winning chef, cookbook author, food system activist, and media personality and co-owner of Mundo Hospitality Group with her business partner Susan Feniger.

After graduating from Washburne Culinary Institute in Chicago, Milliken worked her way up and became the first female chef at Le Perroquet in 1978—where she soon met Susan Feniger. Following, she cooked at the woman-owned, two-Michelin-star Restaurant D’Olympe in Paris, before rejoining Feniger in L.A. to launch City Café in 1981, applying French techniques to dishes from around the world. The culinary pair found further acclaim with CITY Restaurant in 1985, and captured the hearts of Angelenos with Border Grill’s ’85 debut, evidenced by a James Beard Award the same year.

Milliken and Feniger have since opened multiple Border Grill locations, food trucks, and a full-service events and a 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 in Santa Monica. Most recently, the duo opened Alice B., a California twist on Mediterranean food in Palm Springs.

Mary Sue has co-authored five cookbooks, co-starred in Food Network’s Too Hot Tamales and successfully competed on Bravo's Top Chef Masters.  Milliken is passionate about food policy and works with various nonprofits around the world to bring her expertise to help shape sustainable food systems. 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.  

PARTICIPATING EVENTS:

Opening Night Reception

Jeremiah Tower & Friends Lunch