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| - Killing time playing Blackjack on a Saturday night before 8 pm dinner reservations at Firefly, we mentioned to our pert little dealer we were dining there. "I *love* that place!" she squealed, "Get the mac 'n' cheese!" When we piled into the taxi later and told our driver, "Firefly on Paradise," he crowed, "That place is great! Get the mac 'n' cheese!"
Dinner at Firefly (which SIL found through Yelp) was for husband's birthday bash. SIL had been working with the the manager via e-mail for weeks to arrange a group dinner for 13 of us. For 2 hours and $50 a head, we could eat as many of the 6 pre-selected tapas (which SIL had chosen after reading the hundreds of Yelp reviews) we wanted, and drink as much alcohol as we desired. SIL said that dealing with the manager through e-mails to arrange dinner had been a pleasure -- smooth and easy.
We started with fresh bread and ramekins of almond butter. Which was not the almond version of peanut butter I was expecting, but butter blended with crushed almonds, slightly sweet and delicious. The tapas we sampled were:
1) Dates stuffed with smoked almonds, wrapped in bacon, and drizzled with a red wine reduction and blue cheese crumbles. The combos of salty and sweet, chewy and crunchy, were really pleasing.
2) Veggie empanadas -- airy, thin, crisp pastry filled with spinach, mushroom, artichoke, and herbed cream cheese, covered with red pepper aioli. Remarkably interesting and flavorful.
3) Steak and mushroom skewers -- grilled filet, button 'shrooms, roast garlic cream, and a red wine reduction. Meat itself was a bit tough but tasted good, and the mushrooms were cooked perfectly. Garlic cream was a phenomenal foil to the dish.
4) Steamed babyback ribs with mango BBQ sauce. Nice flavor, falling off the bone tender, but really fatty like a lot of ribs.
5) Camarones a la diabla -- shrimp in a *spicy* chile sauce served with grilled bread. My personal favorite tapas. Burn-your-lips spicy (in a great way) and explosive with flavor. Shrimp were plump, juicy, and cooked just right.
And finally...the pièce de résistance:
6) Manchego mac 'n' cheese. After all the build up, after all the recommendations, you could practically here the "womp wommp" hovering over the table as we sampled it. Sundried tomatoes were a great, flavorful addition, and the dish itself tasted good. But it was soupy and not nearly as fabulous as we'd expected.
Dessert was small plates of caramel flan, chocolate tres leches cake, and banana Nutella sandwiches. All three were delicious.
We drank our fill of white and red sangrias, pitchers of mojitos, and bottles of wine and beer. Service was wonderfully attentive and efficient. Atmosphere was like a neighborhood bar: loud, crowded, and boisterous, everyone enjoying themselves immensely. Ambiance was laid-back, very casual, and comfortable. We were *so* glad we got off the Strip on this visit to enjoy a local favorite! We weren't disappointed.
[15 Minutes of Fame: "Rachael Ray's $40 a Day"]
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