Other
Susan Feniger
James Beard Award winner
- Discipline
- Other
i. Biography
Susan Feniger is a builder of restaurants that hold energy without losing shape. At Border Grill, as co-chef and co-owner, she has worked in a California-inflected Mexican-inspired lane that fits Los Angeles dining: open, layered, and fluent in more than one tradition at once. The recognition that followed, including a James Beard Award, sits alongside a body of work measured less by slogan than by rooms filled, menus set, and partnerships maintained over time.
Coming Up
At Pitzer College, Susan Feniger trained before moving into Los Angeles restaurants, where the work began to take on form through a string of roles tied to the city’s dining development. In 1981, she became co-founder at City Cafe in Los Angeles, entering the trade through direct participation. In 1985, she added another early foundation as co-founder at City Restaurant in Los Angeles, extending that first period of restaurant building in a city built on reinvention. In 1998, Feniger stepped into the role of co-chef and co-owner at Ciudad in Los Angeles, a title that reflected both kitchen authority and the practical demands of service. Around the same time, she also became a tv personality at Too Hot Tamales and Tamales World Tour (Food Network), carrying her point of view beyond the dining room while keeping the work rooted in the same culinary identity. Her first solo project came with Street in Hollywood (2009–2013), followed by co-owner / opened restaurant at Mud Hen Tavern in Hollywood (2013–2016). Each of those chapters added another format to her range, while keeping the underlying approach intact: restaurants shaped by warmth, motion, and a clear appetite for flavor. Today, Susan is co-chef and co-owner of Border Grill (since 1985), co-owner of Socalo (since 2019), and co-owner of Alice B. (since 2023). The sequence of those dates shows a career that has continued to accumulate without losing continuity, with each restaurant adding a new register to the same working vocabulary.
Where They Are Now
Today, she remains co-chef and co-owner of Border Grill. In that role, Feniger continues to work from the California-inflected Mexican-inspired cuisine that has long defined her output, connecting the earliest Los Angeles projects to the restaurants she runs now. Across the work, the pattern is steady: movement without drift, and a culinary language that stays generous, colorful, and recognizably her own.
Honors
Susan's honors include Julia Child Award, Elizabeth Burns Lifetime Achievement Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award. Taken together, they mark a career felt not only inside individual restaurants, but in the broader shape of contemporary dining, built through endurance, invention, and a distinctly Californian sense of possibility.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Susan
What is Susan Feniger's current role?
As of 2026, Susan Feniger is Co-chef and Co-owner.
Where did Susan Feniger train or study?
Susan Feniger trained at Pitzer College.
What recognition has Susan Feniger received?
Julia Child Award (2018).
