▼ Café | CHOW BELLA | The Sound of Baking A sensory cooking program teaches kitchen skills to kids with autism. BY BAHAR ANOOSHAHR T Orange Theory Carcara restaurant inside the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown opens. BY JENNIFER GOLDBERG O n a recent weekday morning, the corner of the Sheraton Downtown Phoenix hotel is alive with activity. At the bar, staff members are crafting cocktails. Inside what will eventually be a private dining room, service training is about to begin. Prep cooks are chopping cilantro. Contractors are going over plans. It’s all in preparation for the opening of Carcara, the Sheraton’s new restaurant. The space formerly occupied by District American Kitchen is now a “celebration of the local Phoenix community’s heritage and history, showcasing locally sourced ingredients in Sonoran-inspired dishes and handcrafted cocktails,” according to a press release. Carcara, which opened on March 9, takes its name from the Cara Cara orange. It speaks to citrus being one of Arizona’s five Cs (cattle, copper, cotton, citrus, and climate — early economic drivers in the state), but it also inspired the decor: A 14-foot tree anchors the dining room, and the wraparound patio called The Grove is dotted with citrus trees. The food program, led by Executive Chef Chaz Frankenfield with assistance from Chef de Cuisine Angy Dykstra, is heavy on fresh, local ingredients and citrus notes. A salad made with Yuma Farms greens and Crow’s Dairy goat cheese is graced Executive Chef Chaz Frankenfield. Caracara with a lemon vinaigrette dressing. Pan-seared scallops sit on a bed of spinach and Ramona Farms polenta. The Carcara Burger, served with pepper jack cheese, tomato, pickled red onions, avocado, arugula, and smoked garlic aioli, sits on a Wildflower Bread Co. bun. At the moment, Carcara will only be open for happy hour and dinner, though the restaurant will begin serving breakfast and lunch later this year. “We want to make sure we take care of dinner first and get it nailed down,” Frankenfield says. But speaking of happy hour, the drink menu bears the same local and fruit- forward themes. The beer selection is heavy on brew- eries located in downtown Phoenix; Jennifer Goldberg Above: Carcara’s pan-seared scallops on a bed of Ramona Farms polenta with nectarine butter sauce. options include brews from Greenwood Brewing, Pedal Haus Brewing, and Huss Brewing Company. Frankenfield says the hyper-local focus is to encourage out-of- town guests to explore the downtown drinking options. The cocktails all have fruit elements and are named after places to hike in Arizona. The Cathedral Rock, served in a highball glass, is a teal-colored sweet and smoky mix of Cruzan rum, Del Maguey mezcal, blue curacao, chipotle pineapple syrup, lime, and pineapple. The Devil’s Bridge is a bright purple drink featuring dragon fruit-infused rum, stone fruit syrup, pineapple juice, lime, lemon, and orange bitters. Carcara will also offer a signature canned cocktail, the Carcara Spritz. Like so many other projects, the opening of Carcara was delayed by the pandemic (Phoenix New Times reported last year that the restaurant would open in September 2021). For months, downtown visitors have been glancing at the partition that hid the restaurant’s progress from curious eyes. But now, Frankenfield says, they’re ready to throw the doors open and invite the public to Phoenix’s newest eatery. “I think they’re going to be really excited when we unveil the great patio grove that we have. We really want to get this patio filled,” he says. “I think when the guests come in, they’ll be able to get a little of the downtown vibe.” Carcara Sheraton Downtown Phoenix 340 North Third Street Hours: 3 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 3 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday 602-817-5400 here are picky eaters, and then there are kids for whom the sensation of a grape tomato exploding in their mouth is unbearable. Katie Murwin. Sensory Cooking Children with autism spectrum disorder tend to favor particular sensations and avoid others (loud noise, particular colors, too many people). The same applies to food: They often are extremely sensitive to certain tastes, smells, temperatures, textures, and appearances. This sensitivity causes avoidance of specific foods or food groups and restrictive eating. Sensory Enrichment Therapy, a science-based approach in which certain experiences can help to mitigate such responses in the brain, provides various sensory stimuli on a daily basis for individ- uals with autism. According to the abstract of a 2016 study cited in the journal Neural Plasticity, Sensory Enrichment Therapy undertaken with more than 1,000 young subjects resulted in “significant overall gains for a wide range of symptoms... including learning, memory, anxiety, attention span, motor skills, eating, sleeping, sensory processing, self- awareness, communication, social skills, and mood/autism behaviors.” Katie Murwin, who started the Phoenix-based Sensory >>p 56 51 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES MARCH 17TH– MARCH 23RD, 2022
