Who is the Frugal Foodie?

Alice Waters and myself
Hi, my name is Jillian and I'm a foodie. I love to cook, but I love to eat even more. The idea for the Frugal Foodie came to me while attending Le Cordon Bleu in my hometown of Las Vegas. I had always wanted to become a food critic and the school newspaper gave me the opportunity to start a column which I titled "The Frugal Foodie" (there was no offer from the school to pay for my meals so I tried to keep them all under $10). Now that I am married to my foodie husband who I met in culinary school, we go out to eat all the time and critique dishes together. We spend more money on food than I'd like to admit, dining out A LOT. It's not that we're bad cooks, we just really like to try new restaurants and foods. We don't keep all our meals in that $10 range anymore but we try to eat with an eye for value. We usually avoid Strip restaurants unless we are being treated or they are truly unique, but you will find several reviews on classy joints. There are a lot of dishes out there worth trying, and a lot worth avoiding, so I hope you'll find my suggestions useful and delicious!

Professionally, we have our own line of dog food called The Good Dog Food Company. I'd like to reiterate that we're not bad cooks, we just saw a need for a really high quality, fresh dog food. We began our company in 2008, and now have a dog boutique called The Dog House at Town Square where we sell our food and other awesome items for dogs. (If you have a pup, you should really check it out). You'll see a three year lapse in my blog because business occupied a lot of the time I'd normally be out eating.

I am also a food writer for BLVDS magazine, a local publication you can grab for free at Whole Foods amongst other distribution points. You'll see some of those reviews peppered in as well.

I hope my blog helps you find your way to the best eats in Vegas!

Mario Batali


Nobu Matsuisha

Thomas Keller

Francois Payard

Julian Serrano