Michael went to Dubai with a fresh perspective and a new outlook.  He got involved in the ever evolving city's development by being on the project team of Sheikh Mohammed's Madinat Jumeirah Arabian Resort.  His work at Napa Restaurant with then Sous Chef Martin Grabner was his most innovative and exciting to date.  The two explored the more scientific side of food, analyzing the palate and components down to each detail so that the dishes fired off the taste buds in succession, creating an experience more similar to wine making than to traditional cuisine.  They carefully balanced salty to sweet, earthy to bitter, acid to fat, hot to cold, creating what they called "textural foodscapes", bringing them excitedly into the cutting edge.