Susan Spicer began her cooking career in New Orleans as an apprentice to Chef Daniel Bonnot at the Louis XVI Restaurant in 1979. Her resume includes staging with Chef Roland Durand in Paris, extensive travel in Europe and California, as well as stints at chef at Savoire Faire and the Bistro at Maison de Ville in New Orleans.
She and Regina Keever partnered together to open Bayona in the spring of 1990. With solid support from local diners and critics, Bayona soon earned national attention, countless awards and has been featured in numerous publications. Susan received the 1993 James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef Southeast.
Susan’s first book, entitled Crescent City Cooking: Unforgettable Recipes from Susan Spicer’s New Orleans, was released in 2007. New Orleans Magazine awarded it Best New Cookbook, and it was also included in Food & Wine’s Best of the Best recipe collection.
In May of 2010, Susan was inducted into the James Beard Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. The same year she launched Mondo, a casual, family-style restaurant which opened in Chef Spicer’s neighborhood of Lakeview. In October 2016 she opened her third restaurant, Rosedale, a neighborhood joint in a unique and historic building that serves her own style of Louisiana home cooking. In the Spring of 2019, Mondo will join other great New Orleans restaurants in the new terminals at Louis Armstrong International Airport.
