Back in 2010, the Phoenix City Council approved what was to be its first tree and shade master plan. More recently, the city has turned its attention to a goal of tree equity, reducing the disparities in shade between affluent and disadvantaged neighborhoods. Even as Phoenix wrestles with the need for trees in managing its response to desert heat and climate change, their perceived value is so great that a downtown Phoenix hotel restaurant, Carcara, now features a faux tree at the center, both physically and thematically, of its renovated dining room.
Carcara, with a name inspired by the cara cara orange tree, is the restaurant at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown. It opened in 2022 to replace District, the former restaurant at that property, which closed back in 2019. The unusually long hiatus between restaurants reflected not only the time needed for a complete makeover of the space, but the long closure of the hotel during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the renovation complete and conventions, events, and business travel back in business, Carcara has emerged as a new downtown dining destination.
The restaurant dominates the corner of Third Street and Van Buren, a quarter mile from both the A and B lines, in a location near both the Phoenix Convention Center and the Herberger Theater Center. Bike racks are found along Third Street near the Sheraton entrance and across the street at the nearly vacant Arizona Center. Carcara connects to the hotel but has its own entrance and an expansive wraparound patio that stays relatively cool even during the heat of summer but is also warmed by outdoor fireplaces in the winter.
A faux carcara tree is at the center of the dining room, with its manufactured leaves casting shadows that create the atmosphere of a citrus grove. Additional tables are found throughout, and a large bar helps define the boundary between the dining room and the patio, which flow together when the doors between the two are open. Hanging plants and decorative glass lighting overhead add a three-dimensional aspect to the space. An additional bar in the hotel’s main lobby serves the same happy hour and cocktail menu as the main restaurant space itself.
Carcara describes its culinary influences as Native American and Sonoran, but it would probably be more accurate to label the approach as Southwestern. There are many ingredients grown locally in Arizona featured, and the flavors feel contemporary and cross-cultural. Somewhat surprisingly for a hotel restaurant, the kitchen is generally bold with spice, producing some expectedly fiery items on both the appetizer and entree menus. A roasted corn and aji amarillo chile soup is creamy at first but shows its spicy side after just a few spoonfuls.
The ancho chile braised beef tacos, available only as a happy hour special at the bar, display a similar level of fire. The loaded guacamole is a bit milder but still complex due to the addition of cotija cheese, roasted pepitas, pickled onion, jicama, and radish to the mashed avocado in the bowl. If there is one dish that seems to come up short by playing it safe, it’s the crispy chicken sandwich on the lunch menu. Although the poultry cutlet is tender, its flavor relies primarily on a sweet sauce without much intrinsic taste below in the breading or the meat contained within.
The restaurant always offers a steak or two and an airline-style chicken breast in true hotel food style. Nevertheless, the kitchen often showcases its best efforts with seasonal seafood entrees. Those have included trout Veracruz, involving a filet of mild fish with a traditional Mexican sauce of tomatoes and olives, and shrimp and grits with a savory layer of crustaceans, microgreens, and corn kernels on top of a creamy layer of ground corn below. More recent choices have included pan-seared barramundi served with a succotash of chorizo, black beans, and corn.
Since Carcara is a hotel restaurant, it serves not only lunch and dinner, but also weekday breakfast and weekend brunch. The latter event is characterized by a selection of shareable brunch boards. These are much like charcuterie only with food drawn from brunch traditions. The Surf Board for example, features miniature bagels with two types of smoked salmon, planks of cucumber, slices of tomato, dried capers, and cream cheese. If that’s too much, a simple breakfast burrito leaves room for a decadent chocolate cinnamon bun with candied orange.
Pastry offerings extend beyond brunch into a changing selection of desserts. A s’mores brulee starts with a dark chocolate foundation and continues with a marshmallow filling with a subtle note of prickly pear. A summer peach crisp is paired with a coconut gelato and a ring of dried pineapple that might seem incongruous at first, but actually works well in an unexpected mix of tropical taste and stone fruit. One holdover from the prior District restaurant that is sometimes provided at no cost is fluffy cotton candy given its own Carcara flourish with a bit of citrus flavor.
Carcara’s bar produces a variety of original cocktails with names inspired by places in Arizona. The Cathedral Rock is a fruity rum cocktail with a hint of spice while the Hermit Road is a tequila drink with a note of kiwi and a Tajin rim. The restaurant has its own Urban Sunset beer, a Mexican-style lager from local favorite Huss on tap. For the first eleven years of the downtown Sheraton’s existence, District was a restaurant with appeal beyond hotel guests and convention attendees. In the property’s second decade, Carcara seems equally effective in the same role.
340 N. 3rd St., Phoenix AZ 85004
https://www.carcararestaurant.com
PHX Rail Food 