Culinary Dropout, Scottsdale, Arizona

After coffee and a few doughnuts at Canyon Villas,

we drove over to the Musical Instrument Museum, which is a must-visit for anyone in Phoenix.

There are thousands of instruments from all over the world dating back to the dawn of the 16th century. The instruments are arranged by country and region, and they range from instruments made from discarded materials in Africa

to Pablo Casals’ cello (I once heard Casals perform with Isaac Stern),

to guitars played by the likes of Roy Orbison, Elvis, the Beatles, Carlos Santana, and on and on. And, yes, she’s represented.

The museum extends far, far beyond this brief sample, and many of the exhibits include video clips of the instruments being played. The commonalities across regions shine through, especially in the more traveled regions, as well as local distinctions. The videos, especially those from more familiar cultures and performances, draw you in, as do the very best museums.

It was Nancy’s night to pick the restaurant. I started to mention a couple of good places featuring green chiles or birria. I quickly discerned that my earlier expression of interest is Sonoran hot dogs had rendered Nancy and Kit deaf to my suggestions.

We settled on Culinary Dropout at 15125 Scottsdale Road in The Quarter, a high end shopping development just east of Kierland. It’s a four-link local chain in the Phoenix area., and this was the closest.

Culinary Dropout first came up as a possible lunch place near Papago Park and the University. I was thinking of green chiles and didn’t look at the menu, but someone mentioned they have sandwiches. I put those limited facts together and imagined a slightly funky college place. Boy, was I wrong!

The Quarter is a center of restaurants that offer valet parking. Culinary Dropout seems not to, which was fine as we parked in a free lot perhaps 100 yards away. We entered to find the outer half of the restaurant occupied by a large, private event filled with grownups in business attire. They were making such a din that I was all set to leave and suggest a birria place I wanted to try. A host came out and rescued us just in time by taking us into the reasonably quiet interior half.

We started, as I do whenever we see them on a menu, with the deviled eggs ($6.50). These had been topped with prosciutto. That sounded good on the menu, but the prosciutto had been crisped. Crisping works beautifully for bacon, but not so much for prosciutto. Still, they were deviled eggs, and we all enjoyed them. 

We also had some grilled asparagus served cold with a balsamic sauce. As often happens, I was immersed in the dish and was late in photographing another. We were there for the food, not the pictures.

As you can see, the asparagus ends were a bit wrinkled, a sign that it was past its prime, just like me. It was a nice mix of flavors, and okay. 

Nancy ordered the Rainbow Trout ($24.00). The trout came with with Frenched green beans and toasted almonds, as you can see, along with caramelized shallots and a lemon brown butter sauce.

Nancy enjoyed the trout, which had been handled and prepared well. She also enjoyed the green beans, and would have liked a larger serving. This plate was a big hit.

I ordered the Wedged Iceberg, and topped it with rare skirt steak ($23.50). The wedge itself had been chopped and tossed with bacon, avocado, cherry tomatoes, dill, parsley, and a bleu cheese dressing. There were a couple of chunks of bleu cheese in addition to the dressing.

The steak was cooked to order, with a good beefy flavor, as well as a nice crust. The meat was tender by skirt steak standards. The salad had a lot going on in comparison to the traditional bleu cheese-centric wedge, and I thought it worked well, except perhaps for the inclusion of dill. I’ll admit that I’m a big fan of bleu cheese, and it’s made me fall in love with an unlikely place.

Kit ordered a cup of the Yesterday’s Soup ($4.50), a beef stew, and the Cheap House Salad ($8.50).

The beef stew was more of a soup, but Kit volunteered that it had a good beefy flavor. The salad was a mix of lettuces, kale, red cabbage, red onion, and tomato tossed with ranch dressing and dusted with some grated cheese. It was okay.

Culinary Dropout had its hits and misses, and the private event with the constant flow of servers to and from the bar may have pressed them pretty hard. We weren’t in the mood to walk around and look into shops, so we probably lost part of the total experience. They cook a steak properly, and in all I’d say it’s worth a visit, especially if you’re in the mood for trout.

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