Adam & Eats: Cara’s at Brunwick Place

Editor’s note: Adam Brandt is a graduate from the Cobra Kai School of Culinary Callousness, where he received their highest award, the Red Apron of Merciless Eating. Aside from eating and talking about eating, he makes pots, paintings, prints, books, photographs, and generally, a big mess. He has been the studio assistant at Mudpuppy Pottery for almost nine years and is attending a local university in a desperate attempt to earn a biology degree. Feel free to give him a hard time.

When asked to start writing for The City Wire, I was advised to not use too much profanity; specifically, avoid using the S word and the F word. It is very difficult for me to not use them when asked to describe the experience of eating at Cara’s. All I can manage to say is “Holy Friggin’ Shoot!” That joint blows my mind.

Located in the former Landry’s location, Cara calls her little venture a soup and sandwich shoppe, but it is so much more. Sure, there are soups and sandwiches, but what the name doesn’t express is the amount of passion for making delicious and quirky food that Cara has for her fare. This food is fun, it is fresh, and it is a breath of fresh air to the food scene in the area.

Cara shares my love of sandwiches, even to the point of calling them Carawiches, and she will not hesitate to mix things up a little either. Any restaurant can serve a Cobb salad, but it takes some serious huevos to serve it as a sandwich. As soon as I saw her Turkey Cobbwich on the menu, Dreamweaver started playing in the background. If you think it sounds good, wait until you bite into it. The sweet and bitter of the Spring Mix, the smokiness of the bacon and the turkey, the buttery avocado, and the rich sharpness of the bleu cheese come together in an epic dance of flavor giants in your mouth.

The fun doesn’t stop there. You have the Cranwich, the Capresewich, and everyone’s favorite, the Grilled Cheesewich. If you luck into catching her when she has fresh green tomatoes, try a Carawich called the Whistlestop, it is a BLT where the “T” is a fried green tomato. It is usually the Special on Tuesday, but she’ll make it any other day if you beg enough. I have yet to luck into trying it, but it comes highly recommended and the choice of the name, paying homage to the Jessica Tandy classic, is a plus in my book.

Everything I have sunk my teeth into has filled my heart, and my belly, with a feeling of childlike wonder knowing that the brilliance on the plate comes from the hands of someone who still loves to play with their food.

The menu changes quite often, because of Cara’s cooking philosophy of using locally grown veggies in her dishes and making her dishes from fresh ingredients. All of the dishes are made from scratch with minimal use of processed foods. All of the bread, except the scrumptious Ciabatta, is 100% whole wheat. So, not only is the food fun, it is also good for you. That is until you get to dessert. I could grow fat and happy eating the decadent cakes that are made fresh daily at Cara’s.

The thing that really sticks out in my mind about Cara’s is the fact that she has managed to balance so many things and make them into truly wonderful food. She has taken something simple, soups and sandwiches, made them from scratch using fresh local food, added some humor and some flavors missing from the Fort Smith palate, and has shaped it into something really special. All that for around $8 a plate. Which ever way you look at it, it’s a bargain.

In addition to serving us amazing food, Cara is going to teach us to make it as well. She plans on offering cooking classes beginning in early April. Spaces are limited, hopefully my spot is reserved, so contact her soon for more information. For those of you out there who are Internet savvy, Cara’s has a Facebook page and an email list that let you know about daily specials and upcoming events.

What are you waiting for? Go eat at Cara’s and tell her that Adam says, “Howdy.”

Feedback
When he’s not beating his eggs, Adam makes time to respond to e-mails that get past his hard-ass spam filter. You can try to reach him at [email protected]

Adam also has this thing called Sandwich Control.