Penny Borsuk (47)

Los Angeles, CA

Culinary Consultant

• Penny learned to cook after divorcing her husband. She says she couldn’t afford to take her family to the expensive restaurants they were used to, so she gave them the next best thing – her personal dishes. She spent an enormous amount of time learning how to cook with the women of her family.

• She’s known for her “latke bar,” where guest get to top their own latkes. She also is known for her cold sweet kugel, her Mediterranean chicken, and her colored beet salad.  

• Penny says she has years of tradition and recipes that go beyond any culinary school training; and she boast about taking down some of the best on several cooking competitions. 

• Hanukkah is fun for her, because she loves to decorate her home. She says this is her “Christmas,” so she puts up blue and white stockings and all the fixings. 

• She says for years her mother kept their Hanukkah traditions alive, and it’s now her job to continue these traditions.