Category: Food

FIREFLY Owner Shocked, SHOCKED Restaurant Makes People Sick

It turns out the Southern Nevada Health District was standing there with a padlock after all. As reported late yesterday, the SNHD shuttered the restaurant last Friday after more than thirty people became ill after eating there.

KSNV-TV News 3 added details to the story, stating over thirty-six  (yes, that’s 3-6, three dozen) became sick and ten had to be hospitalized.

The veritable cherry on top of the microbe sundae was provided by Yahoo! News, that labeled Firefly both “trendy” (when? 2004?) and the racker up of hundreds of rave reviews on Yelp. The article went on to say that John Simmons, Firefly’s owner, was “horrified” that his bastion of bacteria had made people sick — conveniently ignoring the fact that the same place was closed less than two years ago by the Health Department for numerous hygiene-related violations.*

All of which led ELV to think to himself: “Self, don’t ever be swayed by the haters and doubters again. When you said you smelled the stench of p.r. spin (when the owners were weakly claiming they “voluntarily” closed the place), you called it a crock and that’s what it was.”

(ELV hates being right all the time, but he hopes you’re getting used to it by now.)

Continue reading “FIREFLY Owner Shocked, SHOCKED Restaurant Makes People Sick”

FIREFLY Makes People Sick

In all the world, there is not something that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and those who consider price alone are this man’s lawful prey. – John Ruskin

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KLAS-TV (Channel 8) reported this morning that Firefly on Paradise Road was closed over the weekend after several complaints of food poisoning.

The way the story was worded, it sounded like the owner closed the restaurant “voluntarily” after a number of complaints of customers becoming ill after eating there.

This is unmitigated, p.r.-driven bullshit. Continue reading “FIREFLY Makes People Sick”

Spring Selections Signal Savory Upswing

Things are improving, food-wise anyway, in our humble burg.

As young Wilburn points out in the previous post, our chefs and restaurants seem to be lifting themselves out of the doldrums. Menus (and cooking) seem more invigorated with passion this year, especially as compared to the last four. The molecular and the avant-garde seem to be fading (although foams are dying a slow, slow death, not fast enough for us) and fifteen course tasting extravaganzas (does anyone call them “degustations” anymore?) appear to be going the way of tasseled menus and tastevins.

One thing that will never go out of style is the well-crafted cocktail…and the list at Herbs & Rye is one of Las Vegas’s treasure troves of luscious libations:

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We at ELV consider a Bucks Fizz or Hemingway daiquiri to be the perfect way to launch (or end) an evening, and owner Nectaly Mendoza deserves major props for finally bringing the steakhouse fare up to something worthy of the cocktails.

After drinking at H&R, it’s an easy jaunt south on Valley View to Flamingo, where all sorts of modern, seasonal Japanese delights await at Yonaka,  like this ethereal tempura of shiso leaf:

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Continue reading “Spring Selections Signal Savory Upswing”