Susan Feniger '76

Long before hundreds competed to be on The Next Food Network Star or Top Chef, Susan Feniger '76 appeared on Too Hot Tamales and Tamales World Tour on The Food Network, with Mary Sue Milliken, her business partner.

Feniger received some culinary training while at Pitzer, working as a chef in McConnell Dining Hall. "Days flew by when I was cooking," Feniger recalled. "It didn't even feel like work." She enjoyed it so much, she designed an independent study, spending her final semester at the Culinary Institute of America.

Following graduation, Feniger worked as a chef and traveled before opening City Café with Milliken in 1981. They later launched Border Grill and Ciudad. Their restaurants are serious about sustainability—they serve only sustainable seafood, offer plant-based dishes and procure local, organic ingredients.

In 1988, Feniger and Milliken founded Cool Comedy—Hot Food, which raises money and awareness for The Scleroderma Research Foundation. Feniger said, "I started this when my closest friend Sharon Monsky '76 was diagnosed with Scleroderma." Last year alone, the event raised over $500,000.

Feniger's most recent accomplishment is Street, her first solo venture. Located in Los Angeles, Street interprets street vendor cuisine, with menu items like mung bean pancakes, Moldavian meatballs and Jerusalem bread salad. A new TV show is also in the works.

At home, Feniger cooks simply, visiting the farmer's market for fresh ingredients. Her favorite thing to make? A cocktail!

—Liz Hedrick '09