Spa Menu Brings The Farm To The Massage Table
Remède spa at the St. Regis Aspen Resort is serving up a farm-to-table menu that pairs culinary spa treatments with tasting menus.
The spa treatments each have a tasting menu and both the treatments and the dishes use the same aromas, textures, and flavors to stimulate the senses. The debut of the farm-to-massage-table concept follows the completion of the $40 million redesign of the St. Regis Aspen Resort, which includes the opening of Chefs Club by Food & Wine, a restaurant serving lunch and dinner prepared by a rotating group of Food & Wine's Best New Chefs, who curate a unique menu of seasonally inspired cuisine.
"Our belief is that wellness comes as much from the inside out as the outside in. The farm-to-massage-table concept enables guests to treat their bodies like their palates and vice versa, creating a synergistic experience like no other," said Julie Oliff, director of Remède Spa.
Created by Oliff and executive chef Thomas Riordan, the farm-to-massage-table menu offers spa services with food pairings made from locally sourced ingredients from Aspen farmers, like the "Prix Fixe Menu," a five-course treatment and tasting menu and the "Spa-La-Carte Menu" featuring individual courses, such as the chocolate mousse massage and the organic honey myofascial massage.
While the services will remain constant throughout the seasons, the edible menu items will change based on freshness and availability.
The $500 Remède Prix Fixe begins with an amuse-bouche of rejuvenation time in the Oxygen Bar paired with fresh-pressed juice, an appetizer of savory salt glow scrub with salt harvested from the Great Salt Lake and infused with grape-seed oil paired with a custom creation from executive chef Thomas Riordan that includes Cabernet Neroli Cabrales, a strong Spanish cheese, served on a miniature toast point with bitter orange marmalade, chilled cucumber consommé served in a shot glass with a freshly picked mint "caviar" garnish, and a baked miniature oatmeal cake topped with organic and local honey butter.
The main course is a 60-minute massage with an intermezzo of palate-cleansing warm eucalyptus compress. Dessert is a whipped body butter application paired with a chilled glass of the hotel's "315" champagne, and a trio of treats, like blueberry financier topped with vanilla-lavender chantilly sauce, house-made almond biscotti dipped in dark chocolate and topped with almond mousse, and coconut-poached Maine lobster topped with a mango espuma.
The Spa-la-Carte Menu, with items from $40 to $90, allows guests who can't squeeze in the full prix fixe menu experience the chance to add the individual spa courses to a 60-minute massage, but the option does not include the food.
Lauren Mack is the Travel Editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @lmack.