About

“Turns out I was born with a restaurant inside, and eventually it had to come out. Call it destiny or call it fate, somehow I was drawn to the restaurant world in a way that is beyond understanding. (For the record, years after I had opened Pepper Sisters, I discovered my grandmother and her sister opened a vegetarian restaurant in Greenwich Village in the 1920’s. DNA!)

Back in 1988, an opportunity presented itself to me while driving home from the Rhododendron Cafe in Bow, where I’d been working, and acquiring my culinary chops. I saw a “for sale” sign in the window of a small, extremely funky, ex drive-up dairy whose recent incarnation was a Mexican restaurant. Not a right angle in the place! What followed was the birth of my inner restaurant. Moving a notch north to New Mexico and embarking on an adventure with the cuisine of the American Southwest was simply what I thought, at the time, a good idea. Somehow, as the years testify, happily, it turned out to be. A few years after inception, we moved to a properly aligned and more spacious (current) location.

When asked if I am from the Southwest I gladly admit, “No I am an imposter!”
Truth be told, I grew up in the Hudson River Valley, New York, among a plethora of good food and good cooks.

Susan Albert, owner/operator Pepper Sisters

In 2019, founder Susan Albert officially sold the business and handed the ladles over to daughter Chelan Bressers and long time team member, Kelsey Andrews.