Do you ever walk into a place and just never want to leave? This is totally the way I felt when I walked into Culinary Dropout. It is in this converted garage and by garage I mean automotive garage as in a place where people work on cars. From the outside it looks like nothing as it is basically a cinder block building, but when you walk inside, especially on the patio you feel so completely right at home. The patio is a mix of tables, comfy chairs and games (ping pong table, bean bag toss, etc), large TV screens, heating lamps if necessary and really incredible chandeliers.




We went with the intention of having brunch but we were so overwhelmed by the menu that we went with more of an antipasto platter so we could try lots of fun foods. To begin with, the pretzel bites with cheese fondue, are seriously one of the most sublime foods on the planet. The pretzel bites are shaped like donut holes and although they resemble a pretzel on the outside they are much more doughy and light on the inside and seriously how do you go wrong with cheese sauce!! Awesome!


We went on to try the grilled artichokes which were served with a mustard dipping sauce of some sort. I haven't had grilled artichoke in a long time and I loved these! We tasted some of their Gorgonzola cheese and bread-so creamy and really nice crusty French bread. We also tasted the roasted beets, grilled asparagus, prosciutto deviled eggs, olives and almonds, all of which was really well done. A few highlights included the balsamic reduction on the asparagus and the beets which were roasted to perfection.

The rest of their menu looked incredible, everything from grilled cheese sliders to Bloody Mary's with bacon infused vodka to the breakfast sandwich I was eyeing at the table next to me...practically almost fell into the girls lap trying to get a better glimpse of  it. With all honesty everything I saw come out of the kitchen I wanted.

I would go back to this place in a heart beat. I would have been content spending my Sunday afternoon here, with a cold beer in my hand, watching football and eating pretzel bites. Or this place would also be awesome on a warm summer night with a great glass of wine and good friends.
Here is their web page: http://www.foxrc.com/restaurants/culinary-dropout/
They are located at 5362 N 7th St in Phoenix, AZ and they are open 7 days a week, but with varying hours. They do brunch on Saturday and Sunday, Happy Hour everyday except Saturday and lunch/dinner every day. Cheers!