By Daily Press staff
Culinary students at The Art Institute of California-Los Angeles in Santa Monica were treated to a guest lecture with celebrity chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, Food Network's “Too Hot Tamales,” this past week.
Students were able to ask questions and get first-hand advice from the chefs on how to get started in the business and how to make good career choices, as well as other words of wisdom from the chef/owners of Border Grill Santa Monica, Border Grill Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay, and Ciudad in downtown L.A.
“Our students benefit greatly when they are given the opportunity to ask questions and interact with accomplished chefs such as Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger,” said chef Christophe Bernard, culinary academic director at The Art Institute of California–Los Angeles. “In addition to a thorough education, it is very helpful for students to hear success stories in the business and be able to learn first hand how people get to the level of these two chefs.
“Often, students learn that the road to celebrity chef status did not happen overnight and realize that this business requires a lot of hard work.”
Milliken and Feniger share their passion for food through many media outlets. Their television careers began in 1993, as two of the 16 chefs invited to cook with legendary Julia Child in her PBS series “Cooking with Master Chefs.” Veterans of 396 episodes of their popular “Too Hot Tamales” and “Tamales World Tour” series with Food Network (1995-1999), the duo often appear as guests on TV shows around the country. They have had several homes on the radio dial since 1996 and currently host “In the KFI Kitchen with Mary Sue and Susan,” a two-hour Sunday morning talk show on KFI-AM 640 in Los Angeles. They have authored five cookbooks: “City Cuisine,” “Mesa Mexicana,” “Cantina,” “Cooking with Too Hot Tamales,” and “Mexican Cooking for Dummies.” In 2001, their Border Grill and Cuidad dishes “starred” in Samuel Goldwyn’s feature film, “Tortilla Soup.” The chefs also have a line of prepared foods under their “Border Girls” brand at Whole Foods Market and a line of signature peppermills and salt mills manufactured by Vic Firth Gourmet.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 5, 2006. Read the original PDF.