VIEWERS WANT THEIR `MMMMTV' : BORDER GRILL CHEFS FIRE UP AUDIENCE WITH DAILY FIX ON TV FOOD NETWORK.Byline: Diana E. Lundin Daily News Staff Writer They shared a cramped apartment in Paris briefly, one of them sleeping on the mattress, the other on the box spring on the floor. At night, after working all day for the city's largest catering company, they would come home and open a bottle of wine. ``We'd talk about, `Let's open a restaurant,' '' recalled chef Susan Feniger of the time she and business partner Mary Sue This article is about the concept in modern literary criticism. For either part of the given name or real or fictional people named as such, see Mary and Sue. Mary Sue, sometimes shortened simply to Sue Milliken were plotting their futures. ``We shook on it one night, probably drunk, and said, `OK, we're going to do it.' '' And they did it. First at tiny City Cafe on Melrose Avenue Melrose Avenue is a well-known Los Angeles street that starts from Santa Monica Boulevard at the border between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood and ends at Hoover Street in Silver Lake. Melrose runs north of Beverly Boulevard and south of Santa Monica Boulevard. in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , where they shared a hot plate to turn out one or two specials a day. And then at City Restaurant, where they concentrated on the exotic flavors of their travels. And finally at Border Grill in Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. , inspired by Mexican street food. In their 16-year partnership, Feniger and Milliken have written two cookbooks, ``City Cuisine'' and ``Mesa Mexicana,'' appeared on Julia Child's ``Cooking With Master Chefs'' on PBS PBS in full Public Broadcasting Service Private, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, and host a weekly radio program, ``Good Food,'' at 11 a.m. Saturdays on KCRW-FM (89.9). Now they can be seen each weekday at 6:30 p.m. on ``Too Hot Tamales Hot Tamales are a cinnamon candy manufactured by Just Born. They are shaped like Just Born's Mike and Ike candies and were introduced in 1950. They are available in both paper boxes and in plastic bags. ,'' the half-hour show on the TV Food Network that TV Guide named recently as one of the 50 best things about television. ``I think they're wonderful,'' said Karen Berk, co-owner of the Seasonal Table Cooking School A cooking school or culinary school is an institution devoted to education in the art and science of food preparation. It also awards degrees which indicate that a student has undergone a particular curriculum and therefore displays a certain level of competency. in Los Angeles and co-editor of the L.A. ``Zagat Survey Zagat Survey (pronounced za-GAT)[1] was established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979 as a way to collect and correlate the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering New York City, the Zagats surveyed their friends. .'' ``Their personalities are so adorable on the show. Mary Sue and Susan's demonstrations really get you connected. They get into your homes by the fact they're real people, real personalities,'' she said. Personality. That's the secret ingredient A secret ingredient is a component of a product that is closely guarded from public disclosure for competitive advantage. Sometimes the ingredient makes a noticeable difference in the way a product performs, looks or tastes; other times it is used for advertising puffery. of cable's 2-1/2-year-old TV Food Network, which offers round-the-clock food fare and where chefs are becoming superstars. Available to 16.5 million cable subscribers, the seven-day-a-week network gives its viewers more perspectives on food than ever before possible with such shows as ``In Food Today'' with David Rosengarten and New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. first lady Donna Hanover Donna Hanover (born February 13, 1950) is an American journalist, radio and television personality, and actress, who is the morning show co-host for WOR radio in New York City. She was First Lady of New York City as the then-wife of former New York City Mayor and 2008 U.S. , ``The Essence of Emeril'' with New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded chef Emeril Lagasse and ``Getting Healthy'' with Dr. Louis Aronne, a weight specialist. ``They can become better cooks, better informed about health, have more interesting conversations,'' said Rosengarten, a food and wine writer who also hosts his own cooking show, the upscale ``Taste.'' ``We also give them entertainment. I think the best shows combine information and entertainment.'' Working women ages 18 to 54 are the primary viewers, but the network knows men are watching, too, judging by the 30,000 hits a week to the CyberKitchen on the World Wide Web (http://www.foodtv.com) and the more than 20,000 letters a week requesting recipes. ``I hear from a lot of women, `You know, my boyfriend or my husband was never interested in food or cooking before. Now he watches your show and he's starting to cook,' '' Rosengarten said. ``I can't figure out why these males are bonding with me, why I have this effect on them.'' And viewers are flocking to the restaurants of chefs featured on the network, dubbed ``MmmmTV.'' ``It does give you a whole different visibility, no question about it,'' said Feniger, who with Milliken hosts the network's third-most-popular show, if recipe requests are any indication. They have shared their engaging rapport and favorite recipes with viewers since October. ``They're my new favorites,'' said Sue Huffman, senior vice president of programming for the New York-based network, who confessed she's had a lot of favorites since the channel began in November 1993. Some shows have thrived, while others have died. ``There are some who were really great when we first started out, but the bigger we get, the more reach (we have). There are some people we don't think are up to our standards now,'' said Huffman, mentioning no names. ``We try very hard to have some characters.'' Viewership reaches its height during the weekends, when an average 58,000 households are tuned into TVFN each minute, said Dan Russell, the network's research analyst. Hands down, the most popular chef on TVFN is Lagasse, the half-Portuguese, half French-Canadian restaurateur res·tau·ra·teur also res·tau·ran·teur n. The manager or owner of a restaurant. [French, from restaurer, to restore; see restaurant. who cooks in New Orleans at his namesake, Emeril's, and NOLA. ``Most people absolutely adore him,'' said Huffman, who was the food editor for the Ladies For the Ladies is a extended play by Machine Gun Fellatio. The extended play was released in 2002. Track listing
Lagasse is simply having fun. ``It's a release and an absolute blast,'' he said. ``It's a pleasure to just go up there and crank out some shows. My goal is ... if I can touch one person out there, to inspire them about eating or inspire them about a different ingredient or inspire them about a dish or even to go into a restaurant, I'm doing something to make it evolve.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Mary Sue Milliken, left, and Susan Feniger of the Bo rder Grill in Santa Monica host ``Good Food'' on KCRW-FM and ``Too Hot Tamales'' on the TV Food Network. Myung J. Chun/Daily News |
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