Problem: Write a positive (OPTIONS:
- negative
- positive) yelp review.
A: Bold flavor in simple, fried pockets. If you are anywhere near the Mesa area just do yourself a favor and drag your ass to this place. The maduros are tender and sweet, the boricua will make any Nuyorican proud, and the capitan is savory and balanced. By the time you get to dessert you may be jaded from the empanada concept (I was). But they make a great effort in maintaining their identity till the last bite. I would have preferred a custard or bread pudding... something to mix up the texture.

Problem: Write a positive (OPTIONS:
- negative
- positive) yelp review.
A: With a new job on the horizon, I had some future monies burning a whole in my pocket and wanted to celebrate in style. Walking past Sensi, it was hard to resist choosing it as the winning option for my meal of many huzzahs. The place just oozes class, and the menu was just the right kind of A.D.D. inspired mash up I didn't even know I was looking for. American? Italian? INDIAN? Making decisions is for suckers. Sensi is for winners. When you drop significant amounts of cash on a meal, you expect to be wowed. And it was hard not to be impressed with all the over the top and superficial trappings. From the massive and pristine glass enclosed kitchen in the center, to the apparently quite expensive marble that made up the walls of the place, Sensi is a picture perfect example of Vegas trademarked excess. The food is amazing to look at, and pretty decent to taste. Unfortunately, it's not quite as big of a bombshell as the sites. My steak was good, and my girlfriends Spice Rubbed Chicken in Creamy Butter Curry Sauce was every bit as good as it sounds. The service was top notch. Clearly the two of us, no matter how awesome we are in our own heads, do not look like the standard clientele that Sensi usually gets. And as an added bonus, we were dressed in our drabby best having just driven for three hours back to Vegas, and were planning to catch a flight in two hours. We got treated with the utmost respect and class. Which we obviously deserve god damn it. And as an added bonus, Top Chef Master Marcus Samuelsson was eating right next to us. Sure, Sensi's chef came out and offered to cook him something special, and sure I wish that happened to me when I walked into a place wearing red converses. I don't ONLY expect special treatment at Burger King you know! But yeah, that was a cool postscript. I'm not particularly celebrity sighting crazed - unless it has to do with food.

Problem: Write a positive (OPTIONS:
- negative
- positive) yelp review.
A:
Have you ever glanced over a menu and had the urge to order practically everything, but resisted because you otherwise would have a plethora of to-go boxes to take home? Well, thanks to small plate servings such as dim sum and tapas, adventurous foodies can now have their cake and eat (all of) it too! This past weekend, a few friends and I trekked over to Sin City to celebrate a dear friend's twenty-seventh birthday. After checking into the Vdara Hotel (which is simply gorgeous in a minimal and contemporary fashion), we taxied off the Strip and arrived at Firefly to meet with some new friends for birthday dinner #1. Since some of us skipped on breakfast and/or lunch, the ladies and I got a tad carried away with ordering. But hey, we were planning on sharing. And you know what they say, sharing is caring! Amongst the extensive tapas offered, our entire group of seven probably ordered about a quarter to a third of the list (there were so many plates in rotation during dinner that I might have forgotten an item or few.) *Tuna Tar tare Smoked Salmon Toast *Stuffed Dates Sausage Plate Thai Beef Salad Stuffed Peppers *Manchego Mac N Cheese Fried Calamari *Steamed Mussels Lobster 'Escargots' *Ham & Cheese Croquetas Steak & Mushroom Skewers Crispy Duck Roll Paella *Flavored Mojitos * = personal favorites Although all the plates were delicious, I had a few noteworthy items that I wanted to spotlight. Stuffed Dates: It's been a few days since our tapas dinner yet I can still taste the delicious flavors of the dates. The bacon that wrapped around the date & bleu cheese was cooked perfectly - slightly crispy but still chewy enough to enjoy each bite. The sharpness of bleu cheese was a wonderful compliment to the sweetness of the dates, all enhanced with a red wine reduction glaze. Steamed Mussels: I'm not a huge advocate of mussels, but these were pretty darn tasty. No, not because of the mussels itself, but because of the aromatic coconut curry sauce that it basked in. Coming from a Southeast Asian background, I have a strong appreciation for cuisines that infuse coconut into its entrees as well as desserts. The concoction was so good that we were all dipping our bread into the sauce, long after the mussels cleared out. Ham & Cheese Croquetas: I absolutely love the chicken croquettes at Portos Bakery (Burbank, CA) and never failed to order some when I'm dining elsewhere. The smokiness of the Serrano ham and the buttery texture of the melted Manchego cheese was a match made in food heaven. If we didn't already have a quarter of the menu sprawled out on our table, I would have suggested ordering seconds! I was extremely surprised at the serving portions of each tapas plate. After my last experience at Viva Madrid (Claremont, CA), I anticipated on having to pick up a snack on the way back to the hotel. Luckily, that was far from the case at Firefly. The portions were generous and sufficient to share amongst the seven of us. Also, if a pitcher of mojitos is on your list, I would suggest the Mango flavored one - delish! Would it be wrong of me to say that I want to come back to LV just for Firefly?