By Molly Cerreta Smith, Guest Blogger, Foodies Like Us

I am a total Sam Fox devotee so I was thrilled to be able to try out one of his newest ventures, Culinary Dropout. He is popping out new restaurant concepts faster than I can get my hands on nights out away from the kids to try them! But the Culinary Dropout concept just called to me – inexpensive eats, casual yet hip atmosphere and top-notch cocktails. Sign me up.

The restaurant occupies the former Pink Taco space in the Scottsdale Waterfront, where a few of Fox’s other restaurants, Sauce, and Olive & Ivy, not to mention the FRC office, also reside. If Sam Fox is planning on taking over the world, he seems to be starting with the Waterfront!

We dined on a Thursday evening, and the bar crowd was already alive and well at Culinary Dropout. No surprise there – with an ample patio, bar that opens up with garage-door style windows, and ideal people-watching positioning, it’s a Scottsdale day drinker’s paradise. Culinary Dropout’s staff is dressed like, well, everyone else in Scottsdale on their way out for a night on the town. So, unless you get a good look at your server, you might get a bit confused if you need to flag him/her down for another drink.

In all the ways that Olive & Ivy is sleek and sophisticated, lil’ bro Culinary Dropout is hip and funky. The purple walls, the giant green and purple chandeliers and over-sized chairs are reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland (the one from my imagination, not Tim Burton’s). A stage for live entertainment is juxtaposed to the bar, and the menu is suited for late-night bar snackers, comfort foodies and culinary sophisticates as well.

Speaking of the menu — you’ll notice the prices are decidedly fair. Perhaps part of the rebel restaurant’s devil may care attitude? We started with the chilled oysters and the soft pretzels and provolone fondue. If I may, I’d like to devote a moment to the idea that I do not partake nearly enough in food served in a cauldron. Our server recommended the starter, and she did not steer us wrong. Looking around, nearly every other table was adorned with a cauldron. Homemade pretzel nuggets were the perfect dipping apparatus for this smooth and rich fondue. A few times our server offered to take the emptied cauldron and its pathetic drippings away, but I just couldn’t part with it.

A cauldron of cheesy goodness

For our main course, my husband, a Georgia boy but not a good ole boy, could not resist the fried chicken. The chicken was super-crispy outside and super-juicy inside – amazing. But we were left wishing for a thicker, stickier-to-your ribs mashed potato accompaniment.

Woah. Irresistible.

A pasta lover through and through, my eyes went straight to the butternut squash cannelloni. I pulled an amateur move, however, and ordered one super-rich dish after another… and only regretted it slightly by way of an all-night stomachache. It was worth the pain. The cannelloni was reminiscent of pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. Delish. The only thing better were the leftovers the next night. If you want to be light on your feet for the rest of the night, don’t make the same mistake I did. If I had to do it over again, I’d trade out either the cannelloni or the fondue (God forbid) for something lighter such as the artichoke salad, which is another star on the menu, according to our server.

This Cannelloni makes any day a holiday!

Culinary Dropout’s signature dessert is homemade apple monkey bread. I was secretly hoping it’d come served in a cauldron, but I wasn’t disappointed when it arrived in its own cast-iron skillet with a scoop of ice cream to keep it company.

Swing in for some serious monkey bread.

Culinary Dropout’s menu lends itself to a variety of dining experiences. Whether you are looking for a light bite before heading out for the night, a comfort food extravaganza or simply a plate of meats and cheeses to graze upon, Culinary Dropout has you covered in a unique way that only Sam Fox can pull off. And I didn’t even touch the cocktail menu. But I’ll let you delve into that on your own… I’ve got to put the kids to bed.

http://www.foxrc.com/culinary_dropout.html

By Susie Timm, Chief Operating Foodie
Every day for the past couple of months I have watched Sam Fox’s latest restaurant venture take shape across Camelback from our office windows.

From the awning I mistook as torn paper (it’s really a quite beautiful white piece of artwork with ornate cutouts), to the servers in training beautifully festooned in their lilac dress shirts; I have been anxiously awaiting the opening of Modern Steak.

This week Jay and I popped over to the new Banana Republic store at Fashion Square, which is conveniently located near Modern Steak and Marcella’s. We are both gigantic Banana fans. I have been obsessed with that store since 7th grade so I was downright giddy about the new flagship store at FS.

We skipped over to Modern Steak and saw “Open for lunch, Tuesday, October 27, 2009.” Yee-Haw. So this morning, I informed my business partner that we would be dining at Modern at long last.

Hmm. Well. We showed up and sadly, the hostesses informed me that indeed I had read their sign correctly, but they weren’t ready to open for lunch yet.

They directed me to the Modern Burger take-out window that adjoins the main restaurant.

We were disappointed. But we were also hungry. Hunger won out. We decided to try Modern Burger.

Modern Burger is essentially a take-out window with a minimalist menu and a tiny amount of seating.

Where the magic happens. Or at least where you order the magical sliders.

We bellied up to the window and placed our orders. Essentially the choices were: sliders, a turkey chopped salad, fries or ice cream sandwiches. Jay and I both ordered the sliders and fries and cokes.

Small menu, big tastes.

We went over to the long tables to await our burgers. The benches attached to those high top tables are so high and inaccessible, that I really needed a step stool, mini-trampoline or perhaps a pole vault to hoist myself upon them. Also, you eat your burger facing the “patio” at Marcella’s and it feels a lot like “Pets on Parade…”

Here I am on the danger bench. Swinging my legs merrily.

However, I was not ready to judge them solely based upon the seating arrangements.

After about 10 minutes, the very friendly burger window guy personally delivered our order in a paper bag. He got me a refill of my soda and some ketchup as well. What a guy!

I opened the paper bag and withdrew a wax paper bag of fries and a very cute little box with my sliders in it.

I was famished so I dug right in. Oh my. Perhaps I never need to eat at Modern Steak? Those little sliders were out of this world. They were the perfect meaty, cheesy, greasy balance. They come with cheddar cheese, sautéed onion, chopped lettuce and thousand-island dressing. I ordered mine sans dressing but I think it would be fabulous with it.

Check out how cute these awesome burgers are!

The french fries are made with Yukon gold potatoes and were crunchy, salty and not greasy at all. They are the best fries I have tasted in 2009. I use my mother as a benchmark for all french fries as she is a connoisseur of crunchy fries. She will drive from Carefree for these fries. That I guarantee. I will advise her however, NOT to attempt mounting the benches to eat her tasty fries…

Best. Fries. 2009.

I decided that I needed a homemade ice cream sandwich so I consulted the burger guys for their opinion. They recommended the vanilla bean and chocolate chip cookie sandwich, but I rebelled and picked the mint ice cream with chocolate cookie instead. It was tasty, but almost over-frozen. I would like the cookies to taste fresher. I will say the mint ice cream that is also home made was delicious.

Ice cream sandwich--looking foward to trying the other flavors

A few other notes, they serve Red Bull (both regular and sugar-free) at Modern Burger and as I am a Red Bull addict, this scored several bonus points. That almost makes up for the acrobatics I did getting on and off the bench.

I am certain I will eventually try Modern Steak. Perhaps next week sometime. It is a beautiful restaurant with a very interesting menu. However, if I never do, I will still be contented forever with those superb sliders and fries.

I would recommend to Mr. Fox however, that he find new seats for his take out spot. I wouldn’t want to see someone without optimum flexibility catapult themselves onto the benches and miss.