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The superb restaurant Asia de Cuba is also decidedly on the Good side, sporting glass chandeliers at a communal table and white in all its various forms.

Walking into the lobby bar is where the hotel gets its Bad on, switching to devil-red décor, scantily-clad waitresses in red, and larger-than-life apple (more red), signifying, we assume, the last temptation of Eve. The Skybar, all black and minimally lit, is also in on the act. According to lauded designer Mr. Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, it's supposed to be the dark pit of sin.

But beyond the work of Noriega-Ortiz, the Heaven/Hell theme continues with the Mondrian's service. The concierge (sitting at her little pink-illuminated desk, hinting, as the hotel website says, "at the guilty pleasures found within") was about as perfect as Scottsdale has to offer.

The valets and servers, not so much. Perhaps they think opening a car door for a lady or waiting less than 10 minutes for a Diet Coke is oh-so-24-hours ago. There was also some serious sinning going on in the room next door.

Speaking of rooms, the top half of each is painted white and the bottom half, just below waist level, black. More metaphor, or Noriega-Ortiz just couldn't make up his mind?

[Photo: Olac]

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