Mii Amo Café
Enchantment Resort
Sedona, Arizona

Fresh from Japan, sushi quality Hamachi tuna is chopped into a rosy tartar. Perched on a tower of ice, the clean taste of the tuna is set off by a dab of ocean-salty Osetra Russian Caviar. Thin blue corn chips (made without oil) provide crunch and blanched red and green seaweeds provide color. Enlivened by a glass of crisp Pinot Blanc (1997 Trimbach from Alsace) it's a rousing start to a spa dinner.

The tartar is the first course of a spa tasting menu presented by Paul McCabe, Mii Amo's Executive Chef. Mii Amo, spawned by Sedona's Enchantment Resort, is a destination spa within Enchantment. While Mii Amo will not actually open until November of 2000, I am here acting as a guinea pig for Paul's menu ideas--tough work, but someone has to do it! As Enchantment's Executive Chef, Paul's preparations reflect a southwestern bent. Mii Amo's food, however, has a more international flare.

Paul believes good food and good wine are an important part of the good life, even for spa goers. Sure, there will be a nutritionist on staff. Sure, each meal will be run through a computer program to render its calorie and fat count. And sure, you can get fresh carrot juice with herbal energy powder at the juice bar. BUT, Paul would never put powder in carrot juice and call it food.

Here's the salad: a skinless duck breast marinated in a sherry-soy-ginger concoction and then quickly seared to keep it juicy-tender. Sliced thin, the duck rests on watercress moistened with blood orange and grapefruit juice. Next is a drizzle of grape seed oil with green basil and a taste of sweet-tart red rhubarb coulis. Voilà, a salad even a meat and potatoes man will love.

Chilean sea bass, delicate and sweet, grilled and served with steamed fingerling potatoes is next. Served in a broth flavored by lemongrass and a smidgen of sesame oil, it creates a rich flavor without no-no's. And yes, you can try this at home. In fact, Paul and his cohorts will hold forth daily at Mii Amo's open air demonstration kitchen--conveniently located next to Mii Amo's herb garden.

Speaking of gardens, a great deal of effort has gone into assuring Mii Amo will have fulsome produce. In fact, Paul has contracted with a local organic farmer to grow Mii Amo's leafy greens, sun drenched tomatoes, earthy potatoes and other surprises.

The superior quality of the farmed-raised buffalo tenderloin entrée comes as no surprise either. It's refined beefy flavor melds amicably with smoked tomato and chipotle chili jus. A hash of Shitake mushrooms and the wisps of golden sweet onions top off this entrée. Singing out for a special wine, Paul pairs the buffalo with a 1996 Gary Farrell Pinot Noir from the Blen Nacido Vineyard.

For the finale, Paul presents a merry package of gossamer pastry tied up with a chocolate ribbon. A compote of plump, stewed blackberries and tart red raspberries hides inside. Sweet syrup, tangy with star anise, is drizzled overall. An imperial-purple, intensely plumy sorbet sits beside this pappilote. Crowned with candied violets, and another star is born.

As onerous a task as this has been, I would--strictly for the advancement of culinary sciences, you understand--offer my guinea pig-tasting-services again, whenever Mii Amo requires.

Now, I can't tell you exactly what you will be eating if you visit Mii Amo now they have opened, but expect it to be choice.

Mii Amo is a spa which cares as much about what you do eat as what you don't eat.