Mary Sue

[mer-ee soo, mair-ee]

noun

1. a fictional character, especially a female character, who is considered to be unrealistically competent, attractive, and lacking in flaws, and is sometimes thought to be an idealized representation of the author.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Mary Sue¹

First recorded in 1975–80; after the main character in a Star Trek fan fiction parody story

Example Sentences

The making of acorn soup will be featured at the Terra Madre Americas event, and the three-day program also includes panels on sustainable farming, impacts of climate change on wine and beer and meals prepared by celebrity chefs such as Jeremiah Tower, Mary Sue Milliken and Sean Sherman, an Oglala Lakota Sioux cookbook author and restaurant owner.

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Bayless, who first opened Frontera Grill with wife Deann Bayless in Chicago’s River North in 1987, helped train American diners to equate Mexican cuisines with high-quality ingredients and complex preparations — just as Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken did when they opened Los Angeles’ Border Grill on Melrose Avenue in 1985.

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In the culinary world, few partnerships exemplify this as well as chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, who have worked side by side since the mid-1980s, helming the iconic Border Grill and building a culinary empire together.

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Back in the 1990s, chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger took over Food Network with “Too Hot Tamales,” launching them into celebrity chef status before that was even a thing.

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Mary Sue Milliken, chef and co-founder of Mundo Hospitality Group, whose restaurants include Socalo, Border Grill and Alice B, said she hopes the entire restaurant industry will one day turn to a service-charge model and get away from tipping, which she said can lead to “bad behavior” and an inequitable system where front-of-house workers get paid exponentially better than back-of-house employees.

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