Tag Archives: Firefly

Vegas Firefly still doesn’t get food safety

Posted on by
Reply

In June 2013, Las Vegas’ Firefly Tapas Kitchen and Bar was linked to over 250 cases of salmonellosis. Investigators fingered cross-contaminated chorizo as the likely source. At the time of the outbreak owner Tabitha Simmons was quoted as saying, “It’s just sad because we’ve been vilified and we did not want anyone to get hurt. We certainly weren’t managing our restaurants poorly.”

firefly-300x300-300x300Now, Firefly has closed its Anthem-area location, citing inconsistent business at the Henderson store and a desire to focus on operations at its other restaurants.

Uh-huh.

The closure comes weeks after a routine inspection by the Southern Nevada Health District resulted in 38 demerits and a C grade for the Eastern Avenue restaurant on March 31. Firefly fired three employees as a result of the inspection, and a re-inspection on April 4 yielded 8 demerits and brought the grade back up to an A.

While Simmons said the closure wasn’t a direct result of the inspection, he acknowledged the restaurant probably wouldn’t have survived another significant loss in business.

Las Vegas’ Firefly has food safety problems again

Posted on by
3

In June 2013 Las Vegas’ Firefly Tapas Kitchen and Bar was linked to over 250 cases of salmonellosis. Investigators fingered cross-contaminated chorizo as the likely source. At the time of the outbreak owner Tabitha Simmons was quoted as saying, “It’s just sad because we’ve been vilified and we did not want anyone to get hurt. We certainly weren’t managing our restaurants poorly.” firefly-300x300

Uh huh.

According to Fox 5, Las Vegas health inspectors gave another Firefly location 38 inspection demerit points resulting in a C grade in March.

The owners of Firefly Tapas Kitchen and Bar acknowledged on Tuesday it received a “C” rating when inspectors for the Southern Nevada Health District inspected the eatery at 11261 S. Eastern Ave. in Henderson on March 31.

Of the 38 demerits it incurred, Firefly was flagged for violations including those for handwashing, improper refrigeration of food, food improperly cooked at the proper temperature and failure to properly store food from potential contamination, according to SNHD’s website.

In a statement from Firefly owners John and Tabitha Simmons, the March 31 inspection was random. The owners also said the eatery was cited for 1-day-old expired food in the refrigerator.

The owners went on to say they corrected the violations within hours of the inspection. A subsequent inspection the following Friday, April 4, brought the restaurant’s rating back up to an “A,” the owners said on Tuesday.

Sure looks like they are managing their restaurants poorly, food safety-wise.

294 sick; ‘We’ve been vilified … We certainly weren’t managing our restaurants poorly’ Firefly forced to cut back on staff after Salmonella outbreak

Posted on by
Reply

A lot of people got sick eating at one of the Firefly restaurants in Las Vegas; at least 294.

The Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) concluded that of the 21 food items that were analyzed, one item, cooked chorizo (a type of sausage), tested positive for Salmonella. Culture and PFGE-pattern results of the Salmonella fireflyisolate obtained from the cooked chorizo matched those of the outbreak strain.

Environmental Health staff contacted Firefly restaurant management to gather more information about the handling of the chorizo product. The chorizo came into the restaurant raw and was subsequently cooked by Firefly restaurant staff.

It is likely that the outbreak was due to local cross-contamination in the restaurant’s kitchen and not from a contaminated commercial food.

Now, KTNV reports the Firefly location on West Sahara Avenue is closing for weekday lunch and has laid off a handful of its staff members.

“Letting people go is devastating because they have worked for us for so long,” co-owner Tabitha Simmons tells Action News.

Tabitha’s husband and Firely co-owner John Simmons says the couple has been fighting their hardest to dig the Las Vegas chain out of the hole.

“It’s just sad because we’ve been vilified and we did not want anyone to get hurt. We certainly weren’t managing our restaurants poorly,” says Tabitha.

Consumers are apparently making their own decisions.

“We don’t want to go away. We don’t want to be run out of here. We want to continue being a part of community and we hope Las Vegas gives us that chance,” they tell Action News. 

294 sick; new Firefly restaurant opens in Vegas after Salmonella outbreak

Posted on by
2

A new Firefly Tapas Kitchen & Bar opened over the weekend at 3824 Paradise Road, a few doors down from the old Firefly, home to a salmonella firefly.salm.puppet.videooutbreak last month that sickened 294 people from 27 states and two foreign countries.

Tabitha Simmons, John Simmons’ wife and business partner, told the Las Vegas Sun, “I think we were a little apprehensive about opening. We really want to put our best foot forward, and we want to gain people’s trust back. We’re not taking this lightly.”

John Simmons recently said he had no plans to reopen the original Firefly location on Paradise because he would be moving ahead with plans that were already in place to open the new restaurant by the end of the month. He signed a lease for the new space in August.

He said inspectors from the Southern Nevada Health District approved the restaurant to open May 21. Inspectors were not immediately available for comment Friday.

Cooked chorizo collected from the previous Firefly restaurant on Paradise Road tested positive for salmonella, according to Linh Nguyen, an epidemiologist with the Health District.

Though the chorizo arrived at the restaurant raw, it was subsequently cooked by Firefly’s restaurant staff. Nguyen said the genetic fingerprint of firefly1-300x300the salmonella found in the chorizo has not been found anywhere else in the country, suggesting it was contaminated at the restaurant.

Simmons said chorizo will remain on the menu at the new restaurant.

“We still offer it,” Tabitha Simmons said. “All of the additional precautions we’ve put in place allows us to offer it.”

294 sick; Firefly Salmonella creates complications, hard choices for pregnant Las Vegan

Posted on by
Reply

In late April, a couple of days after Konstantino and “Myla,” Lyudmyla Kouris walked over from their All Real Estate investment company office to have lunch with their friend Nikk Zorbas at the Firefly restaurant next door, Myla, got sick.

Paul Harasim of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes that ahough doctors first saw the symptoms as a commonplace indication of pregnancy, stool Lyudmyla Radchenkosamples taken after her condition worsened showed –– and continue to show –– she suffers from salmonella, food poisoning that caused the Southern Nevada Health District to shutter the Paradise Road Firefly on April 26.

To their horror, the couple learned that what was generally causing others a few days of distress –– nearly 300 people have now reported food poisoning symptoms –– could lead to severe pregnancy complications.

Radchenko, expecting her child in early June, was too ill to take part in initial interviews with the Review-Journal last week in which Kouris and Zorbas first outlined her situation. Zorbas spent four days in the hospital fighting salmonella symptoms, while Kouris recently stopped taking antibiotics for his bout with salmonella.

“Our lives have been nothing but stress since we found out what Myla had –– nothing is really positive any more,” Kouris, 50, said as the couple sat in their office on Monday. “All we talk about now, all we think about, is what salmonella could do to our baby.”

With stool samples this week showing the salmonella still strong in her system, Radchenko nodded at the talk of stress as she repeatedly caressed her stomach.

“So much stress,” she said in an accent that reflects her Ukrainian homeland. “It is so scary. I’m afraid for our little boy.”

294 now sick with Salmonella linked to sausage (chorizo ) at Vegas Firefly restaurant

Posted on by
1

On April 26, 2013, the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD), Office of Epidemiology (OOE) received reports of gastrointestinal illness from 8 independent groups of patrons of Firefly on Paradise or the adjacent affiliated restaurant Dragonfly on Paradise (Firefly) located at 3900 Paradise Road, Las Vegas, NV 89109. All patrons from these groups ate at the restaurant during April 21-24, 2013. Ill patrons reported symptoms of chorizodiarrhea and/or vomiting after they consumed food from Firefly restaurant, and many sought medical care for their illness. In response to these illness reports, the SNHD initiated an investigation.  

From various surveillance data sources, we have received reports of illness from restaurant patrons who normally reside in 27 states and 2 foreign countries (Canada and United Kingdom) who ate at Firefly during their visits to Las Vegas.

Of the 21 food items that were analyzed, one item, cooked chorizo (a type of sausage), tested positive for Salmonella. Culture and PFGE-pattern results of the Salmonella isolate obtained from the cooked chorizo matched those of the outbreak strain. There are no plans to test the remaining 14 food items that were collected on April 26, 2013.

EH staff contacted Firefly restaurant management to gather more information about the handling of the chorizo product. The chorizo came into the restaurant raw and was subsequently cooked by Firefly restaurant staff.

It is likely that the outbreak was due to local cross-contamination in the restaurant’s kitchen and not from a contaminated commercial food.

John Simmons, the owner of the Firefly restaurants, released a statement firefly.salm.puppet.videothrough a new public relations firm, just hired.

“We appreciate the Southern Nevada Health District’s thorough review and swift conclusion to this matter. From day one, our concern has always been doing everything we could for those affected and doing everything we could to use this time to make Firefly the safest place to eat in southern Nevada.”

And to further prove Vegas is the temple of trash, check out this video from an aspiring ambulance chaser:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z24K6vIkB7M

(maybe Chapman can figure out how to embed it)

 

200 sick; Salmonella outbreak among patrons of Firefly on Paradise Restaurant – Las Vegas

Posted on by
1

Where most health departments would have publicly done little – it takes work – the Southern Nevada Health District has already issued its second interim report on the Salmonella outbreak linked to Firefly restaurant in Las Vegas.

Excepts below:

On April 26, 2013, the SNHD performed investigative inspections and closed Firefly and Dragonfly restaurants to minimize ongoing risk of illness. The SNHD OOE, Environmental Health (EH) and Southern Nevada Public Health Laboratory firefly1-300x300(SNPHL) have been collaborating on the investigation and response to this outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Nevada State Health Division were also notified of the outbreak investigation.

A total of 33 Firefly employees were interviewed on April 26, 2013. Three employees were identified as having been recently ill with gastrointestinal symptoms after having eaten at Firefly within the previous 7 days of their illness; these workers submitted stool specimens. The OOE staff identified an additional ill staff member at a later interview, but stool testing was not offered to this employee. The timing of their illness onset dates suggests that none of these 4 restaurant workers was the source of the illness. The restaurant has a sick employee policy and employees may call-in sick when necessary.

Thus far, surveillance for additional cases revealed 200 people who became ill after eating at Firefly during April 21-26, 2013. The Epi-X posting resulted in reports of salmonellosis from five public health agencies outside of NV. From various surveillance data sources, we have received reports of illness from restaurant patrons who normally reside in twenty states (AZ, CA, CO, HI, IL, MA, MN, MS, NC, NE, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, TX, UT, WA) and two foreign countries (Canada, United Kingdom) who ate at Firefly during their visits to Las Vegas.

No single menu item appeared to be the likely source for the outbreak. Additionally, no common factors or ingredients were identified among the statistically significant menu items. We also looked for associations between illness and several common ingredients such as parsley, aioli, and grated hard cheeses (parmesan and manchego). Of these, only the grated hard cheeses showed a statistical association with illness.

However, many of the statistically significant menu items contained none of that cheese.

89 now sick from Salmonella at Firefly restaurant in Vegas

Posted on by
1

In March 2012, Ottawa Public Health (OPH) investigated a foodborne illness outbreak of salmonellosis that included 85 cases, and caused 26 emergency room visits and six hospitalizations. Over a year later, OPH announced staff provided safe food handler training to food premises operators involved in the outbreak.

That’s not a report (and if there is one, I can’t find it).

This is a report:

On April 26, 2013, the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD), Office of Epidemiology (OOE) received reports of gastrointestinal illness from eight independent groups of patrons of Firefly on Paradise or the fireflyadjacent affiliated restaurant Dragonfly on Paradise (Firefly) located at 3900 Paradise Road, Las Vegas, NV 89109. All patrons from these groups ate at the restaurant during April 21-24, 2013. Ill patrons reported symptoms of diarrhea and/or vomiting after they consumed food from Firefly restaurant, and many sought medical care for their illness. In response to these illness reports, the SNHD initiated an investigation.

On April 26, 2013, the SNHD performed an investigative inspection and closed Firefly and Dragonfly restaurants to minimize ongoing risk of illness.

Firefly restaurant uses two adjacent permitted kitchens, Firefly on Paradise (SNHD Permit Number PR0013375) and Dragonfly on Paradise (SNHD Permit

Number PR0015008), to prepare food for their customers. The inspection found that numerous conditions existed that could contribute to an outbreak of a foodborne disease and included: inadequate holding of food, inadequate cooling, improper handwashing, employee bare hand contact with ready to eat food, improper food storage practices, improper cleaning practices, and improper thawing of food.

The results of the inspection were 44 demerits for Firefly and 47 demerits for Dragonfly on Paradise. Both facilities were closed by SNHD for excessive demerits and for being associated with a large cluster of reports of illness (

Thirty samples of various foods were collected during the inspection and submitted to the SNPHL for possible testing to determine which food item(s) could have been the source of the illness.

Inspections were also conducted on April 29, 2013 of the two other Firefly restaurant outlets located in Clark County. Firefly Westside located at 9560 W. Sahara, Las Vegas received 30 demerits, and Firefly on Eastern located at 11261 S. Eastern received 6 demerits.

At least 86 patrons and 3 employees who consumed food and/or drinks at Firefly during April 21-25, 2013 contracted Salmonella infection.

FUTURE ACTIONS

1. Firefly should rectify faulty food storage equipment and practices to ensure that food will be maintained at proper temperatures.

2. The SNHD OOE staff will continue to collect information about customers who ate at Firefly during April 21-26, 2013 to establish illness occurrences among restaurant patrons, and to conduct a case-control study to identify specific food item(s), if any, were associated with illness.

3. The SNHD EH staff will continue to review Firefly’s food preparation methods to identify possible lapses in food safety procedures, and to require restaurant management to provide and implement a comprehensive food safety plan.

4. The SNHD OOE staff will continue to monitor the foodborne illness database for additional complaints of illness to determine whether the outbreak is limited to this establishment or has spread to the general community.

5. The SNPHL will perform pulsed field gel electrophoresis on the submitted specimens that were positive for Salmonella to determine if illnesses among patrons from the different groups were linked.

That report was published four days after the initial contacts regarding illnesses.

That’s a report.

39 sick; fancy food doesn’t mean safe food Vegas edition; popular tapas restaurant shut amid outbreak

Posted on by
1

Update: Salmonella is to blame for sickening dozens of people at Firefly on Paradise, according to the Southern Nevada Health District. 

At least 39 people became ill after eating at the popular restaurant last week. 

Health officials shut down Firefly on Friday. They collected food samples from the restaurant and stool samples from patients for testing. 

Stool sample tests revealed it was Salmonella that caused the widespread illness.

The restaurant remained closed on Tuesday and will have to be reinspected before reopening. That could take several days.

____________

A trendy Las Vegas tapas restaurant that’s racked up hundreds of rave reviews on the website Yelp is closed after more than three dozen patrons reported food poisoning symptoms.

AP reports that Southern Nevada Health District officials said the flagship Firefly restaurant on Paradise Road was shuttered Friday and fireflywill remain closed while they run tests to try to determine the source of the outbreak.

“Everyone’s kind of devastated. This is a big deal and we take it very seriously,” said John Simmons, who owns the restaurant and two other Firefly locations in greater Las Vegas that remain open. “We’ve got to get to the bottom of it.”

Amy Irani, the district’s acting environmental health director, said 39 people who visited the restaurant last week reported symptoms, and 10 said they sought medical attention. Symptoms included diarrhea and vomiting.

Firefly is a block from the Strip and is one of Las Vegas’ most commonly reviewed restaurants, with a coveted 4 1/2-star rating on Yelp. Customers rave about the sangria and bacon-wrapped dates.