Heather Feher has worked in arguably some of the world’s best kitchens, but did not grow up in a food-centric home. She didn’t fall in love with food until she moved to New Orleans for art school. “It’s such a food town. Everybody connects over food,” says Heather, the executive chef of Uptown Sedona’s Amara Resort and Spa. “I was floored because for the first time in my life, I actually enjoyed eating. And it really blew my mind that there was like this whole world that I had never explored and all these flavors that I had never experienced before.”
After working in a restaurant in New Orleans, she left Louisiana to start culinary school at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. She’s worked with three star Michelin chef Grant Achatz at Alinea in Chicago, D.O.M. Ristaurante in Brazil, Astrid & Gaston in Peru and Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. She says her time spent in those kitchens trained her to notice minute details. She’s also catered meals for top musicians like Bob Dylan and Keith Urban. She says cooking for high-profile customers is nerve wracking at first, but eventually you find your groove. They’re just searching for what most people are: a great meal. To her, food is about feelings. “I’m very intentional in the way that I approach food,” she says. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, is this gonna taste good together?’ It’s more like, ‘Why am I putting this on the plate? What emotion am I trying to elicit in the diner?’”
She gave us the example that for Valentine’s Day, she put together an aphrodisiac menu. Heather is also an herbalist and often incorporates this knowledge into her cooking as well. She also lets the seasons influence her cooking. “I like to work astrologically as well. Because it’s Sedona, and people get that here,” she says. She also enjoys using ingredients that thrive in area. “I really love the weirdness of the desert,” she says. How did she end up here? It was the one place where her and her husband both wanted to reside. At Amara, she is working on adding more plant-forward dishes to the menu. She’s also creating more vegan and gluten-free dishes for diners. In April, she’s doing a special menu inspired by paintings an artist created exclusively for Amara. “I’ve found Sedona to be extremely welcoming, and open minded people are here,” she says. “People just tend to be a little bit more open minded and open to experiences. And that’s what I want to be creating for people.” Visit blackcatculinary.com to learn more about her. – By Teresa K. Traverse
