Mary Sue Milliken, Chef

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

After graduating from Washburne Culinary Institute in Chicago, Milliken 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 reuniting with Feniger in Los Angeles to launch City Café in 1981, applying French techniques to dishes from around the world. The culinary pair found further acclaim with the opening of CITY Restaurant in 1985 and cemented their reputation with the debut of Border Grill later that year, earning a James Beard Award.

Together, Milliken and Feniger expanded Border Grill into multiple restaurant locations, food trucks, and a catering and events business in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. 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 most recently, Alice B. 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 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® and is a founding member of Regarding Her, a national nonprofit dedicated to advancing women-identifying and nonbinary food and beverage entrepreneurs and leaders.

In 2018, Milliken and Feniger became the first women to receive the Julia Child Award for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts.