April 11, 2025 • 25 mins
Celebrity chefs, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, take a seat at Luke’s Diner!
You know them from ‘Good Food’ but did you know SNL parodied one of their most iconic sketches after them?
And, hear how Mary Sue shares a special connection to Gilmore Girls from a decade ago.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am all in Again.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I Am all in again with Scott Patterson and iHeartRadio Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hey everybody, Scott Patterson, I am all in Podcast, one
of the productions iHeartRadio, iHeart Media, iHeart Podcasts. Episode to
Luke Steiner, we have the one and only Mary Sue
Millican and Sue Fenneger. And let me tell you a
little bit about these two. They are legendary culinary icons.
(00:44):
Yes they are, and you may know them from two
Hot Tomali's and Top Chef Masters. Welcome ladies, Susan and
Mary Sue. Great to have you on the show. How
are you today?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Hi, thank you, It's great to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
It's good to have you. It really is. My favorite
people in the world are chefs, I tell you, especially
the ones that will take an autograph photo of payment.
And season one episode of twenty ps, I Love You,
we are presented with Emily Gilmore's idea of a packed
lunch for Rory at children. It includes a leg of
(01:22):
lamb sandwich strudle and that is Richard's recommendations and here's
some things to get us off the lunch pad. Packed lunches.
They play a role in family moments on TV shows
or in life right, whether it's Rory school Days or
(01:42):
Suki's gourmet takes on classic What makes a packed lunch
truly special for you two.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
That's such a great question because we once did all
the food for a film called Tortillas, which was based
on an Ang Lee film that was based that was
called Eat Drink Man Woman. I think so. Anyway, when
they in both cases once one was Chinese Family Chinese
(02:15):
America and the other was Mexican American. That's the one
that we did all the food for. And at one
point there's a lunch going to school with the granddaughter
and of the chef and he goes through so much painstaking,
you know, to pack it and layers and different you know, surprises,
(02:36):
and it's really really sweet. It really it reminds me
of when my kids were young, and you know, I
cut their sandwiches in the shape of a heart.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Any quick chef approved hacks for keeping those packed lunches
fresh and exciting without spending hours, don't it.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
We don't have kids, so I never had to pack
a lunch for kids, so, you know, very so I
never I don't think I ever packed a lunch unless
you know, I was packing a lunch, for us to
go to the beach or for us to you know,
go do something.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
I think the important thing is you have to wrap
everything kind of carefully. If it's wrapped well, it lasts
really well.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Right, this dynamic duo right here, how'd you guys get started?
How'd you first cross paths? What led you to join
forces in the colinary world.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
Well, we this is way back, this is in the
late seventies. We met because we're both from the Midwest.
I'm from Ohio, Marys who's from Michigan. We ended up
meeting at a restaurant in Chicago called Lapero Ca and
we were the only two women in the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
So we bonded in a big way, in a big way.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
Especially because it was a very traditional French kitchen. And
you know, we were sort of determined, I know, we
were just we would work, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Come in early, stay late.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Try to prove ourselves, always try to be as better
than the guys, which.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
We were, but by far, well we worked harder than
all of them for sure.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
And then by the end, when the chef went on vacation,
he asked the two of us to be in charge
of the kitchen, which was a huge, huge honor, and
I don't know, it didn't take but a couple of years.
After that, we both went to France, to Susan, to
the south of France, meet to Paris to do apprenticeships,
and then you know, soon after that, we just got
(04:35):
the idea that we'd open restaurants together someday somewhere.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
That was after two bottles of wine in Paris, well,
when we were definitely had had too much to drink
and it was raining, and then there was a rainbow,
and we decided we should open up a restaurant sometime.
And we couldn't figure out what city, what city it
should be, but.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
We both ended up.
Speaker 5 (04:59):
I came back to La because I had been in
La before working at Mammay Zone under Wolfgang Puck, and
Mary Sue went back to Chicago. But but we eventually,
within like maybe six eight months, we came back and
had City Cafe, which was our first little restaurant together.
It was talk about working long hours. We were opened
(05:22):
like seven am to midnight, seven days a week.
Speaker 6 (05:25):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
And that was forty four years.
Speaker 6 (05:28):
Ago, right right? What a business?
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And where was City Cafe?
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Where was it on Melrose in La and the you
know punk rock era of Melrose Avenue.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
Right next to Lai Works, there was the soap plant
was across the street. Our address was seventy four oh
seven and a half because the space was like nine
hundred square feet in total.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Gosh, it was great.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
It was great.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
What a hustle that must have been. Man, you guys
just working your tails off.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, well just imagine imagine this we were. We had
both come back.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
Mary Sue was working in a restaurant in Paris. I
was working in a restaurant in the south of France,
both of them very high end. We come back. We
opened this little city cafe with a full menu, no
stove in the kitchen, no automatic dishwasher, just the three
(06:27):
pots sink and it was Mary Sue and I and
the dishwasher. And we had two hot plates like two
saute pans and two habachi's on the ground and the
parking lot where all the customers park after we'd come
from these three star restaurants.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
But you made it work.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
We did. We got our first gourmet ride up there.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Fantastic. Well, you helped redefine the La food scene, right,
I mean, that's pretty much what you guys did. So
what was the turning point when you realized you were
creating something game changing in La in the food scene.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I don't think we have yet.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
You ever realized it because you're so busy. Russian, Russian, Russian, right.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
Well.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
I do remember Julia child coming in. She was super
tall and a dear friend. But the first time we
met her, she was eating in the front and we
were so excited, and we look out the little square
window in the kitchen door and peak, peek and see
what she was doing, and tell the bus ploy, you know,
give her a lot of water. So she has to
(07:41):
go to the bathroom because the bathroom was in the kitchen.
Sure enough, Julia comes walking into the kitchen. Oh my gosh, Hello,
that was such a delicious meal. And you know, she's
so tall, and our kitchen was so tiny. We had
stuff hanging from the ceiling. We had no room really.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
And we had one double door because then we finally
had put a stove in. We put one six burner
stove in, and we had one double door refrigerator where
we put everything, and that was right in front of
the bathroom door.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
So I was on the floor.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
Organizing the little you know, double door reaching and Mary
Sue was getting you know, getting something out of the oven,
and we both hear this voice and we were sort
of blowing. Obviously we knew it was her, and so
it was embarrassing. All the food was on the floor.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
It was just like, oh my god, what a mess.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
But she became such an amazing supporter for us and
really great friend, and we did many things with her
after that, and just she was, you know, a role model.
She was humble and fun and she didn't take herself
too seriously.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
She was great.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Man. That's like Babe Ruth walking in mentoring you guys.
It's yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
That's like if you're a baseball player.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Right, if you're a baseball player, or you know, I
mean ate a lot too, like you appreciated a good meal. Man.
That's uh, that's quite a feather in your caps there,
Julia Child, throw that name down.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
I'll tell you, okay, if we're name dropping, yes, please
do another. Amazing I think when there's two more, I
think things that happened that I can remember that are
like the most incredible things.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
One thing was we got we had a show on
casey r W.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
We had pitched it to Ruth Seymour that we wanted
to do like a five minute political food show, and
she was like, no, that's the stupidest idea I've ever heard,
But you can do a food show, and so we did.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
We'll call it Good Food and yeah, because I wanted
to talk about like the horrible pest de sides on
apples for school children. You know, Meryl Street had come
out and against it. And I had a baby that
was just like just being born, and I was so outrageous, said,
that is the so unappetizing and such a bad idea.
(10:14):
You just come on and doing food, a food show
called a good food show, and then you can weave
your little messages in here and there. And it was
actually really amazing because a week later we were on
the radio doing we had no idea how to host
a radio show what we did for seven years.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, I mean, look, I mean I had no idea
how to host a podcast, but I've been doing it
for four Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
But the amazing thing is, at some point in this
Saturday Night Live did a spoof on our show, really
and they came in and then came in and did
an ass tire.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
They did you know those the two of them where
they say, you know and tune in next week, we'll
have a whole hour show about salt.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
And we felt like we had a ride.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I remember that was based on you guys.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
Yeah, we felt like we had ye But she said yeah, she.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Said she'd been driving around town and listening to our show,
and we were like, are we that boring? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:22):
But so you're also in the food truck business, right,
How did that? How'd that get off the ground? How
did you start that? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
That was we love that. I mean that that's been like,
I know, sixteen twenty years.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Yeah, but you know, Roy CHOI started it really to
be fair. He and I love Roy. He's got the
Kogi truck. But when he kind of went viral with
you know, the very beginning of social media and like
where you could find his truck that we loved the
idea right away. We went out and bought a truck.
And we're amazed at how it's how great it is
(11:59):
to be able to bring your kitchen to somewhere where
you can serve people nice, hot, delicious food immediately.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
And and I think it was you could do it
in a way, in a way where it was affordable,
so that someone could come if they couldn't afford to
eat at your restaurant, but they could come to the truck.
And I you know, it's what I love about food trucks,
the same as street food all over the world, is
that it's an equalizer. It doesn't matter if you have
(12:28):
a lot of money or you have very little money.
It's sort of people love if it's a great food
truck or a great street stand, people love it, and
it doesn't matter. And so it's really an equalizer. And
so we were able to do that. We love the
idea of what that did because it made you way
more visible out there in the city.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So you too would be in the truck often prepping
the meals. Would you drive the truck to the locations too, No,
you had a driver, Yeah, you had a driver. And
how many staff were in the kitchen with you? Just
the two of you or was there some extra.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Help in the beginning?
Speaker 6 (13:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
I think just the two of you.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Yeah, But then you know, we would have you know,
we got to the point where we could have you know,
up to three people. It would fit in the kitchen.
I mean it's not that big, it's a small shruck.
So what the driver usually also is a cook and
or the order taker, and so you know you can
it comes in so handy. During the fires, we brought
(13:29):
our truck to many different locations and fed thousands of people,
fifteen hundred people in like a two hour time span.
It was it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Wait a minute, how do you feed fifteen hundred people
in two hours?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Well we have a ye're like, you're standing right next
to each other in a NonStop.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
So what do you make and what are you serving?
What are you preparing?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Well, the one I'm thinking of we had mac and
cheese for the kids, these were people whose homes had
burned down. We had tarioki steak for and then we
had a fish, a beautiful fish salad that one of
our colleagues here in town made because we got a
bunch of fish donated and we didn't have the manpower
to do it. So one of our chef friends, Nikki Nakayama,
(14:15):
made a fish salad, and so we had these choices.
You could have mac and cheese, fish salad or steak
tariaki or we also had a tofu tariaki, so you know,
and we were just putting them out as fast as
we could and people coming up and grabbing whichever one
they wanted.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Nice, and we did I think one foot one of
the days I worked in Alta Dina, we did a
vegetarian curry, so people who were vegetarian, we did a
braised brisket and then we always served like some.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Fresh veg vegetable.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
We did broccoli I think with a sesame sauce on it,
and it's just nonstuff. I mean, even at that event,
we ran out of the vegetable, so we had gotten
there was the food bank was there. We got a
case of apples and I started making apple salad to
(15:08):
go with the brisket, and with that just chopping up
like for one hour straight as fast as I could,
chopping up apples, mixing it with salt, pepper, olive oil
and taheen. So you know, but you're just, I mean,
at that point, you're just you know, you're trying to
put out as much food that's fresh and delicious to
give someone a warm meal and they could take one,
(15:30):
or they could take ten or however many dings.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, all right, that's great, that's great.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
They're known for Mexican food. But so when the National
Guard came to Santa Monica to help early on, we
would do a lot, like five hundred burritos every morning
to take them over to the Santa Monica Police Department
in Indy.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Look at you, Yeah, wow, that's true. You know, I learned.
I love to cook. I'm not a professional chef by
any stretch, but it's how I cooked. My wife was
with my salmon, the way I prepared my salmon at
the time. And I don't even remember how I used
to do it because now it's just like I put
some sauce on it, put.
Speaker 6 (16:04):
It in the oven, and there you go.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
But I learned something every time I do one of these.
I learned about how to use the pasta water in
the sauce to make it bind to the pasta right,
so there's no more water stuff. So that's a little trick.
So what are the what are the most underrated ingredients
(16:27):
you think people should be using more in their kitchens?
And maybe it can help me with my anchovies.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
I think anchovies are incredible. People think they don't like them.
They don't even know, you know, they don't even know
When I put anchovies in they say, oh my god,
this is so delicious. But if you said, would you
like to have something with a little anchovy season it's
like a seasoning.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
It's like salt, your right.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
I just think it makes everything tastes better.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
I mean I think, you know, people get in habits
of what they if they're cooking, what they use at home.
I mean there's so many there's like, for example, o
hasanta is an amazing orb.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Most people don't even know what it is or use it,
but I think it's like one of them.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
I mean, where people love basil, o hasanta is as interesting,
if not more, but it's not used. And so people,
you know, tend to sort of stick with what they know,
or like Cole Robbie or you know, cell reroot. You
know they're I mean up, were at our restaurant in
Palm Springs, Alice b. We do this salad that goes
(17:34):
with the bronzino that's prize and cell reroot, and people
are always asking, like, what was that salad on the
side of that dish? I mean, celery root you can
see in every grocery store. But it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
I mean that people. I think since COVID, I think people.
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Are using more ingredients now than they were, because people
are cooking at home more now than we do.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
Oh yeah, if.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
You could cook for any TV character, Okay, all right,
because this is a podcast based on TV show, who
would that character be, not the actor or the actress,
but the character, right, Who would that character be? And
what would you make them? Mary suit go first.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Well, the first person who who popped into my head
was I dream of Genie.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I could cook for her, okay, because.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
She just did so many nice things for people, you know, right,
I mean that's why I love to cook. I like
to cook to give back. I love to people get
him excited.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
What would you cook for her?
Speaker 4 (18:52):
I would make her well, first, I'd have to ask
her twenty questions about what she like, and but I
would imagine she I would make her birthday dinner. I
would make a birthday cake for her with really delicious
butter cream. And I'd probably make her a really nice,
you know, not too fattening meal because she's always you know,
(19:12):
looking after her.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Weight, right right, right? TV character meal?
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (19:19):
Probably, I think it'd be very fun to cook for
Tony Soprano and uh and what was his wife's name?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
I'm blanking on her name?
Speaker 5 (19:30):
Missus missus soprano. Them is a couple I would love.
I think they would have been very fun to hang
out with.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
What would you what would you cook them?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Definitely not Italian?
Speaker 6 (19:41):
Not Italian?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, okay, huh.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Yeah, I don't know. Maybe you know, maybe I do
like a.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
Like a ribbi stuffed with roasted garlic, and you know,
maybe a Jimmy Turia and crispy fingerling potatoes or something.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Oh man, man, I'm hungry. You guys are making me hungry.
Is your food truck going out every day? Are just
special special bookings and special parties in that kind of thing?
Speaker 6 (20:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (20:16):
I mean right now, we're still collaborating with World Central
Kitchen to feed that.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Some of the vacuies like three days a.
Speaker 5 (20:23):
Week with the True but otherwise it's private parties or
if there's big like like let's say, for example, like Coachella,
not Coachella, but sometimes but big events where there's maybe thousands.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
People, but it's usually caterings or private parties by miss Wedding.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Well, you too must be expensive.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Very We always wanted a restaurant that our friends could
afford to eat in, because we've worked in restaurants that
you know, the parking lots were filled with rolls, Royces
and Mercedes, and we didn't really ever want that kind
of restaurant. So we've always really been focused on accessibility.
But I have to tell you about a dinner party
I had about ten years ago. A friend of mine
(21:08):
is a good friend of Peter Krause, and he brought
his then girlfriend Lauren Graham over. I think she might
have been instrumental in the program that year. This podcast
is about she.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Might have been. There's a rumor going around that she
was may or may have been in some episodes.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
I had never actually seen the show because I think
during the time when Gilmore Girls really exploded, I was
like Susan and I were in the kitchen like twenty
four hours a day or eighteen at least, and then
sleeping for six So when she walked in, I of
course didn't know who she was. They came over to
my house, and when my sister found out later that
I'd cooked for Lauren Graham, she just.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Was crazy excited.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
She and her two daughters were huge Gilmore Girls watchers.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Right. Well, so let's say, and you're a little more
familiar with the show now, right, Yeah, a little bit,
A little bit. I'm not saying you're experts, but so,
so you know I played a character named Luke and
I had a diner. Right.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Oh cool? Yeah yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
So you haven't really seen the show all right.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
So.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
I think I did way bad.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
I did.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
You haven't seen the show at all.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
I didn't know it was you? Who was Luke?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
I did my.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Reason, I don't look the same, I didn't.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
I knew that's who you was younger than we all were.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I had a little more hair. Yeah, I didn't need glasses.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
So you had a diner? Was it fun?
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Yeah, Luke Steiner? Sure? Yeah. So here's the question you
come into Luke Steiner, right, what would you order? And
if you haven't seen the show, I can't ask you
where you'd sit because you don't know the layout.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Right, well, I'd want to sit at the counter.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
There you go that, there you go there it is
that I had a out, obviously, what would you.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
I'd want to be? I love diners.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
They are my favorite place to eat, so do I
so do I They're like and old and old, you know,
go to Snug Harbor all the time, you know.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
I love old diners, though.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Diners are coming back. You know, it's like, oh yeah,
it's really something we used.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
To go for business lunches or breakfast, I mean all
the time, and I would get the exact same thing,
and I still do it for all these years.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
I'll get cottage.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
Cheese, side of avocado, side of bacon, rye toast, extra
virgin olive oil and hot sauce.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Can't beat it with a stick. Can't beat it with
a stick.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
I like a tune them melt myself?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Did you say?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Luke's absolutely? You know, you know what do you want
right now? Caesar?
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Tune them out?
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Excellent? But you haven't seen the show, so yeah, anyway, ladies,
it has been an extreme pleasure. Please he's come back, okay.
I mean I have a list of questions that I mean,
I barely you know, we barely crack the surface of
this thing. So come back sometime, okay, and we'll be
in touch.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
I have time now, so I'll watch a bunch of
old Gilmore girls and then when I come back, I
will have a much better Don't believe her.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Don't believe her, Mary Sue Millican, Susan Feniger, A pleasure,
Keep on truck and thank you for all you do
for the LA community. Quite admirable of you and all
the best too.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Thanks for coming so much, all right, thank you, all right, bye.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Bye, and that's going to wrap it up here everybody.
Thanks for downloading. Best fans on the planet, and remember
where you lead, we will follow. Stay safe, hey, everybody,
(25:20):
and don't forget Follow us on Instagram at i Am
all In podcast and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio
dot com.
I am all in Again.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I Am all in again with Scott Patterson and iHeartRadio Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hey everybody, Scott Patterson, I am all in Podcast, one
of the productions iHeartRadio, iHeart Media, iHeart Podcasts. Episode to
Luke Steiner, we have the one and only Mary Sue
Millican and Sue Fenneger. And let me tell you a
little bit about these two. They are legendary culinary icons.
(00:44):
Yes they are, and you may know them from two
Hot Tomali's and Top Chef Masters. Welcome ladies, Susan and
Mary Sue. Great to have you on the show. How
are you today?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Hi, thank you, It's great to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
It's good to have you. It really is. My favorite
people in the world are chefs, I tell you, especially
the ones that will take an autograph photo of payment.
And season one episode of twenty ps, I Love You,
we are presented with Emily Gilmore's idea of a packed
lunch for Rory at children. It includes a leg of
(01:22):
lamb sandwich strudle and that is Richard's recommendations and here's
some things to get us off the lunch pad. Packed lunches.
They play a role in family moments on TV shows
or in life right, whether it's Rory school Days or
(01:42):
Suki's gourmet takes on classic What makes a packed lunch
truly special for you two.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
That's such a great question because we once did all
the food for a film called Tortillas, which was based
on an Ang Lee film that was based that was
called Eat Drink Man Woman. I think so. Anyway, when
they in both cases once one was Chinese Family Chinese
(02:15):
America and the other was Mexican American. That's the one
that we did all the food for. And at one
point there's a lunch going to school with the granddaughter
and of the chef and he goes through so much painstaking,
you know, to pack it and layers and different you know, surprises,
(02:36):
and it's really really sweet. It really it reminds me
of when my kids were young, and you know, I
cut their sandwiches in the shape of a heart.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Any quick chef approved hacks for keeping those packed lunches
fresh and exciting without spending hours, don't it.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
We don't have kids, so I never had to pack
a lunch for kids, so, you know, very so I
never I don't think I ever packed a lunch unless
you know, I was packing a lunch, for us to
go to the beach or for us to you know,
go do something.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
I think the important thing is you have to wrap
everything kind of carefully. If it's wrapped well, it lasts
really well.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Right, this dynamic duo right here, how'd you guys get started?
How'd you first cross paths? What led you to join
forces in the colinary world.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
Well, we this is way back, this is in the
late seventies. We met because we're both from the Midwest.
I'm from Ohio, Marys who's from Michigan. We ended up
meeting at a restaurant in Chicago called Lapero Ca and
we were the only two women in the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
So we bonded in a big way, in a big way.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
Especially because it was a very traditional French kitchen. And
you know, we were sort of determined, I know, we
were just we would work, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Come in early, stay late.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Try to prove ourselves, always try to be as better
than the guys, which.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
We were, but by far, well we worked harder than
all of them for sure.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
And then by the end, when the chef went on vacation,
he asked the two of us to be in charge
of the kitchen, which was a huge, huge honor, and
I don't know, it didn't take but a couple of years.
After that, we both went to France, to Susan, to
the south of France, meet to Paris to do apprenticeships,
and then you know, soon after that, we just got
(04:35):
the idea that we'd open restaurants together someday somewhere.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
That was after two bottles of wine in Paris, well,
when we were definitely had had too much to drink
and it was raining, and then there was a rainbow,
and we decided we should open up a restaurant sometime.
And we couldn't figure out what city, what city it
should be, but.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
We both ended up.
Speaker 5 (04:59):
I came back to La because I had been in
La before working at Mammay Zone under Wolfgang Puck, and
Mary Sue went back to Chicago. But but we eventually,
within like maybe six eight months, we came back and
had City Cafe, which was our first little restaurant together.
It was talk about working long hours. We were opened
(05:22):
like seven am to midnight, seven days a week.
Speaker 6 (05:25):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
And that was forty four years.
Speaker 6 (05:28):
Ago, right right? What a business?
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And where was City Cafe?
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Where was it on Melrose in La and the you
know punk rock era of Melrose Avenue.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
Right next to Lai Works, there was the soap plant
was across the street. Our address was seventy four oh
seven and a half because the space was like nine
hundred square feet in total.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Gosh, it was great.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
It was great.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
What a hustle that must have been. Man, you guys
just working your tails off.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, well just imagine imagine this we were. We had
both come back.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
Mary Sue was working in a restaurant in Paris. I
was working in a restaurant in the south of France,
both of them very high end. We come back. We
opened this little city cafe with a full menu, no
stove in the kitchen, no automatic dishwasher, just the three
(06:27):
pots sink and it was Mary Sue and I and
the dishwasher. And we had two hot plates like two
saute pans and two habachi's on the ground and the
parking lot where all the customers park after we'd come
from these three star restaurants.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
But you made it work.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
We did. We got our first gourmet ride up there.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Fantastic. Well, you helped redefine the La food scene, right,
I mean, that's pretty much what you guys did. So
what was the turning point when you realized you were
creating something game changing in La in the food scene.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I don't think we have yet.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
You ever realized it because you're so busy. Russian, Russian, Russian, right.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
Well.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
I do remember Julia child coming in. She was super
tall and a dear friend. But the first time we
met her, she was eating in the front and we
were so excited, and we look out the little square
window in the kitchen door and peak, peek and see
what she was doing, and tell the bus ploy, you know,
give her a lot of water. So she has to
(07:41):
go to the bathroom because the bathroom was in the kitchen.
Sure enough, Julia comes walking into the kitchen. Oh my gosh, Hello,
that was such a delicious meal. And you know, she's
so tall, and our kitchen was so tiny. We had
stuff hanging from the ceiling. We had no room really.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
And we had one double door because then we finally
had put a stove in. We put one six burner
stove in, and we had one double door refrigerator where
we put everything, and that was right in front of
the bathroom door.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
So I was on the floor.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
Organizing the little you know, double door reaching and Mary
Sue was getting you know, getting something out of the oven,
and we both hear this voice and we were sort
of blowing. Obviously we knew it was her, and so
it was embarrassing. All the food was on the floor.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
It was just like, oh my god, what a mess.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
But she became such an amazing supporter for us and
really great friend, and we did many things with her
after that, and just she was, you know, a role model.
She was humble and fun and she didn't take herself
too seriously.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
She was great.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Man. That's like Babe Ruth walking in mentoring you guys.
It's yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
That's like if you're a baseball player.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Right, if you're a baseball player, or you know, I
mean ate a lot too, like you appreciated a good meal. Man.
That's uh, that's quite a feather in your caps there,
Julia Child, throw that name down.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
I'll tell you, okay, if we're name dropping, yes, please
do another. Amazing I think when there's two more, I
think things that happened that I can remember that are
like the most incredible things.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
One thing was we got we had a show on
casey r W.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
We had pitched it to Ruth Seymour that we wanted
to do like a five minute political food show, and
she was like, no, that's the stupidest idea I've ever heard,
But you can do a food show, and so we did.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
We'll call it Good Food and yeah, because I wanted
to talk about like the horrible pest de sides on
apples for school children. You know, Meryl Street had come
out and against it. And I had a baby that
was just like just being born, and I was so outrageous, said,
that is the so unappetizing and such a bad idea.
(10:14):
You just come on and doing food, a food show
called a good food show, and then you can weave
your little messages in here and there. And it was
actually really amazing because a week later we were on
the radio doing we had no idea how to host
a radio show what we did for seven years.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, I mean, look, I mean I had no idea
how to host a podcast, but I've been doing it
for four Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
But the amazing thing is, at some point in this
Saturday Night Live did a spoof on our show, really
and they came in and then came in and did
an ass tire.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
They did you know those the two of them where
they say, you know and tune in next week, we'll
have a whole hour show about salt.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
And we felt like we had a ride.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I remember that was based on you guys.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
Yeah, we felt like we had ye But she said yeah, she.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Said she'd been driving around town and listening to our show,
and we were like, are we that boring? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:22):
But so you're also in the food truck business, right,
How did that? How'd that get off the ground? How
did you start that? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
That was we love that. I mean that that's been like,
I know, sixteen twenty years.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Yeah, but you know, Roy CHOI started it really to
be fair. He and I love Roy. He's got the
Kogi truck. But when he kind of went viral with
you know, the very beginning of social media and like
where you could find his truck that we loved the
idea right away. We went out and bought a truck.
And we're amazed at how it's how great it is
(11:59):
to be able to bring your kitchen to somewhere where
you can serve people nice, hot, delicious food immediately.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
And and I think it was you could do it
in a way, in a way where it was affordable,
so that someone could come if they couldn't afford to
eat at your restaurant, but they could come to the truck.
And I you know, it's what I love about food trucks,
the same as street food all over the world, is
that it's an equalizer. It doesn't matter if you have
(12:28):
a lot of money or you have very little money.
It's sort of people love if it's a great food
truck or a great street stand, people love it, and
it doesn't matter. And so it's really an equalizer. And
so we were able to do that. We love the
idea of what that did because it made you way
more visible out there in the city.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So you too would be in the truck often prepping
the meals. Would you drive the truck to the locations too, No,
you had a driver, Yeah, you had a driver. And
how many staff were in the kitchen with you? Just
the two of you or was there some extra.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Help in the beginning?
Speaker 6 (13:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
I think just the two of you.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Yeah, But then you know, we would have you know,
we got to the point where we could have you know,
up to three people. It would fit in the kitchen.
I mean it's not that big, it's a small shruck.
So what the driver usually also is a cook and
or the order taker, and so you know you can
it comes in so handy. During the fires, we brought
(13:29):
our truck to many different locations and fed thousands of people,
fifteen hundred people in like a two hour time span.
It was it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Wait a minute, how do you feed fifteen hundred people
in two hours?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Well we have a ye're like, you're standing right next
to each other in a NonStop.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
So what do you make and what are you serving?
What are you preparing?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Well, the one I'm thinking of we had mac and
cheese for the kids, these were people whose homes had
burned down. We had tarioki steak for and then we
had a fish, a beautiful fish salad that one of
our colleagues here in town made because we got a
bunch of fish donated and we didn't have the manpower
to do it. So one of our chef friends, Nikki Nakayama,
(14:15):
made a fish salad, and so we had these choices.
You could have mac and cheese, fish salad or steak
tariaki or we also had a tofu tariaki, so you know,
and we were just putting them out as fast as
we could and people coming up and grabbing whichever one
they wanted.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Nice, and we did I think one foot one of
the days I worked in Alta Dina, we did a
vegetarian curry, so people who were vegetarian, we did a
braised brisket and then we always served like some.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Fresh veg vegetable.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
We did broccoli I think with a sesame sauce on it,
and it's just nonstuff. I mean, even at that event,
we ran out of the vegetable, so we had gotten
there was the food bank was there. We got a
case of apples and I started making apple salad to
(15:08):
go with the brisket, and with that just chopping up
like for one hour straight as fast as I could,
chopping up apples, mixing it with salt, pepper, olive oil
and taheen. So you know, but you're just, I mean,
at that point, you're just you know, you're trying to
put out as much food that's fresh and delicious to
give someone a warm meal and they could take one,
(15:30):
or they could take ten or however many dings.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, all right, that's great, that's great.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
They're known for Mexican food. But so when the National
Guard came to Santa Monica to help early on, we
would do a lot, like five hundred burritos every morning
to take them over to the Santa Monica Police Department
in Indy.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Look at you, Yeah, wow, that's true. You know, I learned.
I love to cook. I'm not a professional chef by
any stretch, but it's how I cooked. My wife was
with my salmon, the way I prepared my salmon at
the time. And I don't even remember how I used
to do it because now it's just like I put
some sauce on it, put.
Speaker 6 (16:04):
It in the oven, and there you go.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
But I learned something every time I do one of these.
I learned about how to use the pasta water in
the sauce to make it bind to the pasta right,
so there's no more water stuff. So that's a little trick.
So what are the what are the most underrated ingredients
(16:27):
you think people should be using more in their kitchens?
And maybe it can help me with my anchovies.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
I think anchovies are incredible. People think they don't like them.
They don't even know, you know, they don't even know
When I put anchovies in they say, oh my god,
this is so delicious. But if you said, would you
like to have something with a little anchovy season it's
like a seasoning.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
It's like salt, your right.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
I just think it makes everything tastes better.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
I mean I think, you know, people get in habits
of what they if they're cooking, what they use at home.
I mean there's so many there's like, for example, o
hasanta is an amazing orb.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Most people don't even know what it is or use it,
but I think it's like one of them.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
I mean, where people love basil, o hasanta is as interesting,
if not more, but it's not used. And so people,
you know, tend to sort of stick with what they know,
or like Cole Robbie or you know, cell reroot. You
know they're I mean up, were at our restaurant in
Palm Springs, Alice b. We do this salad that goes
(17:34):
with the bronzino that's prize and cell reroot, and people
are always asking, like, what was that salad on the
side of that dish? I mean, celery root you can
see in every grocery store. But it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
I mean that people. I think since COVID, I think people.
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Are using more ingredients now than they were, because people
are cooking at home more now than we do.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
Oh yeah, if.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
You could cook for any TV character, Okay, all right,
because this is a podcast based on TV show, who
would that character be, not the actor or the actress,
but the character, right, Who would that character be? And
what would you make them? Mary suit go first.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Well, the first person who who popped into my head
was I dream of Genie.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I could cook for her, okay, because.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
She just did so many nice things for people, you know, right,
I mean that's why I love to cook. I like
to cook to give back. I love to people get
him excited.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
What would you cook for her?
Speaker 4 (18:52):
I would make her well, first, I'd have to ask
her twenty questions about what she like, and but I
would imagine she I would make her birthday dinner. I
would make a birthday cake for her with really delicious
butter cream. And I'd probably make her a really nice,
you know, not too fattening meal because she's always you know,
(19:12):
looking after her.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Weight, right right, right? TV character meal?
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (19:19):
Probably, I think it'd be very fun to cook for
Tony Soprano and uh and what was his wife's name?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
I'm blanking on her name?
Speaker 5 (19:30):
Missus missus soprano. Them is a couple I would love.
I think they would have been very fun to hang
out with.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
What would you what would you cook them?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Definitely not Italian?
Speaker 6 (19:41):
Not Italian?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, okay, huh.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Yeah, I don't know. Maybe you know, maybe I do
like a.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
Like a ribbi stuffed with roasted garlic, and you know,
maybe a Jimmy Turia and crispy fingerling potatoes or something.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Oh man, man, I'm hungry. You guys are making me hungry.
Is your food truck going out every day? Are just
special special bookings and special parties in that kind of thing?
Speaker 6 (20:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (20:16):
I mean right now, we're still collaborating with World Central
Kitchen to feed that.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Some of the vacuies like three days a.
Speaker 5 (20:23):
Week with the True but otherwise it's private parties or
if there's big like like let's say, for example, like Coachella,
not Coachella, but sometimes but big events where there's maybe thousands.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
People, but it's usually caterings or private parties by miss Wedding.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Well, you too must be expensive.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Very We always wanted a restaurant that our friends could
afford to eat in, because we've worked in restaurants that
you know, the parking lots were filled with rolls, Royces
and Mercedes, and we didn't really ever want that kind
of restaurant. So we've always really been focused on accessibility.
But I have to tell you about a dinner party
I had about ten years ago. A friend of mine
(21:08):
is a good friend of Peter Krause, and he brought
his then girlfriend Lauren Graham over. I think she might
have been instrumental in the program that year. This podcast
is about she.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Might have been. There's a rumor going around that she
was may or may have been in some episodes.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
I had never actually seen the show because I think
during the time when Gilmore Girls really exploded, I was
like Susan and I were in the kitchen like twenty
four hours a day or eighteen at least, and then
sleeping for six So when she walked in, I of
course didn't know who she was. They came over to
my house, and when my sister found out later that
I'd cooked for Lauren Graham, she just.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Was crazy excited.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
She and her two daughters were huge Gilmore Girls watchers.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Right. Well, so let's say, and you're a little more
familiar with the show now, right, Yeah, a little bit,
A little bit. I'm not saying you're experts, but so,
so you know I played a character named Luke and
I had a diner. Right.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Oh cool? Yeah yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
So you haven't really seen the show all right.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
So.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
I think I did way bad.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
I did.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
You haven't seen the show at all.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
I didn't know it was you? Who was Luke?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
I did my.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Reason, I don't look the same, I didn't.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
I knew that's who you was younger than we all were.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I had a little more hair. Yeah, I didn't need glasses.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
So you had a diner? Was it fun?
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Yeah, Luke Steiner? Sure? Yeah. So here's the question you
come into Luke Steiner, right, what would you order? And
if you haven't seen the show, I can't ask you
where you'd sit because you don't know the layout.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Right, well, I'd want to sit at the counter.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
There you go that, there you go there it is
that I had a out, obviously, what would you.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
I'd want to be? I love diners.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
They are my favorite place to eat, so do I
so do I They're like and old and old, you know,
go to Snug Harbor all the time, you know.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
I love old diners, though.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Diners are coming back. You know, it's like, oh yeah,
it's really something we used.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
To go for business lunches or breakfast, I mean all
the time, and I would get the exact same thing,
and I still do it for all these years.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
I'll get cottage.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
Cheese, side of avocado, side of bacon, rye toast, extra
virgin olive oil and hot sauce.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Can't beat it with a stick. Can't beat it with
a stick.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
I like a tune them melt myself?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Did you say?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Luke's absolutely? You know, you know what do you want
right now? Caesar?
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Tune them out?
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Excellent? But you haven't seen the show, so yeah, anyway, ladies,
it has been an extreme pleasure. Please he's come back, okay.
I mean I have a list of questions that I mean,
I barely you know, we barely crack the surface of
this thing. So come back sometime, okay, and we'll be
in touch.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
I have time now, so I'll watch a bunch of
old Gilmore girls and then when I come back, I
will have a much better Don't believe her.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Don't believe her, Mary Sue Millican, Susan Feniger, A pleasure,
Keep on truck and thank you for all you do
for the LA community. Quite admirable of you and all
the best too.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Thanks for coming so much, all right, thank you, all right, bye.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Bye, and that's going to wrap it up here everybody.
Thanks for downloading. Best fans on the planet, and remember
where you lead, we will follow. Stay safe, hey, everybody,
(25:20):
and don't forget Follow us on Instagram at i Am
all In podcast and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio
dot com.
Hosts And Creators
Amy Sugarman
Danielle Romo
Scott Patterson
Tara Soudbaksh
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