Lindsay Stewart won’t stop raving about the cotton candy burrito. The Santa Clarita native, mother of two and former restaurant food runner swears by the dessert, created by Las Vegas ice cream parlor Creamberry. But Stewart also can’t forget the family-owned business for another reason. “They were the very first people who ever gave me a chance,” she says.
For nearly seven years, Stewart has been running the popular Instagram account @thelasvegasfoodie full-time, and has since spread the word about thousands of great Las Vegas restaurants to her 397,000 followers.
The Weekly sat down with Stewart to talk about her newfound influencer status, how her job has changed with time and why Las Vegas just does everything better.
When did you first discover your love for food? My parents weren’t taking me to expensive places or anything crazy. We were going to Hamburger Hamlet on Sundays—old school—but my dad actually owned a pizza place when I was 16. And I’ve worked in restaurants since I was 15. That’s when I started making my own creations, because you can’t eat the same things every day. Then, of course, when you start working, you have more money and you can start venturing out. That’s where it started.
How did @thelasvegasfoodie take shape? When we moved here, we lived right at the Panorama [Towers], so we could walk anywhere on the Strip. It was all at our fingertips, as opposed to being from a suburb of LA, where it was two-plus hours to go downtown. No one wants to do that, so we were stuck with going everywhere in Santa Clarita. When I knew all these restaurants were here and some were from LA … I was like, let’s go try these places out. Yelp was my best friend. I would keep track of everything in my notes on my phone. Finally, I was like, I’m just gonna start taking pictures of everything. I didn’t want to do it on my personal Instagram or my Facebook, because I didn’t want to bother people, and I also didn’t want people to know that it was me. I wanted to be anonymous. It was almost like a double life.
In those early days, did you stick with on-Strip restaurants, or did you make it a point to venture out to find neighborhood gems? I always covered on and off the Strip, because Vegas isn’t just the Strip, and working in restaurants, you get recommendations from your friends that work there. It was always word of mouth. My friends and Yelp took me around. But in the beginning, no one was really doing this. We would stand on chairs [to take photos], and my husband would be so embarrassed. He’d be like “Oh my God. Hurry up, hurry up.” Back then it was 20 minutes to take 100 photos. Now I feel like we’re better, and videos are even better, because it’s just a quick video and then you can do whatever with it later.
What’s a typical day like for you now? It’s so different now than it was ... because I have my two babies. I usually do about three restaurants a week. But before it was three restaurants a day. We had no kids, my husband loves to work and I would do this with my friends. We’d pound three a day, or we would do two during the day and one at night. It was constant. I was helping restaurants run their social media, which is a very popular thing to do, and we’d go on vacation, but we wouldn’t leave the hotel room for three hours, because I’d be posting on my accounts. It was time-consuming and just hard to turn it off. They’re talking about mental health awareness month in May, and it’s like, give yourself a break. Sometimes you need to just stop. Like, what race are we really running?
It’s probably easy to forget to enjoy the meal you’re posting about. Do you ever do phone detoxes? I don’t know if it’s a detox, but … I’ll take a picture and then put it away, or I’ll take a couple of videos. But 100 percent, there’s nights where I’m like, off our phones. Just put it away. When I’m with the kids, I don’t want to be on my phone. I don’t want them to see me have my screen time. I’d rather just be fully present with them as much as I can.
Have you discovered any new favorite types of food through your job? Everything. I would never in my life have tried foie gras or quail eggs. I tried uni before, and I’d like to try it again. Caviar is something I’ve never had before, and I feel like this town loves it now.
Is there anything you think Las Vegas does particularly well, food-wise? Seafood towers and service. I mean, even down to the valet. I think this city definitely ranks well above others. We’re the entertainment capital, right? But I think we really do live up to that. I’m biased, but I feel like it’s above, because you can’t eat all this stuff in three days in LA. You’d be waiting in traffic for 20 hours.
As we’ve seen recently with foodie influencer Keith Lee, posted content can really elevate a restaurant’s profile. Does that add any extra pressure or feeling of responsibility to what you do? Of course, and hopefully in a positive way. I’d never want to do it in a negative way. I could never do that and feel good about it. There’s a total responsibility. I’m not Keith Lee, but I wish I had that influence. It’s so wonderful—he literally changes businesses overnight. I wish there were more people like that. But I also have a responsibility to my followers to make sure that I’m directing them to a place that’s good and clean.
What are your goals for @thelasvegasfoodie going forward? I’d love to grow with Las Vegas. If you asked me five years ago where my page would be, there’s no way I could tell you this is where it would be, sitting down with you. So hopefully, to keep growing and helping more businesses, because that’s what it comes down to. That’s how we started.
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