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Culinary Dropouts

4.4 (14 reviews)

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Anh and Chef Marian
Chef M.

A rebel without a cause. A dropout? This is our Restaurant Review of Culinary Dropouts!  It should be more of a Drop in, not out, because .... well, you'll see. Their food, the ambiance, their Happy Hour, their music, their staff, their management, start to finish is first class. If this is what a Culinary Dropouts can create, then that's what I want to be when I grow up! lol What a fabulous event this is: Two in one! Ana and I meet Catherine from our San Diego & Carlsbad Foodies groups for Happy Hour at the bar. So nice to have a good bar in my neighborhood! We had so much fun. The Happy Hour choices are great. The drinks are good, but the house wine is really what catches Catherine's attention. Their house Cab for .... I think it was .... five bucks, really shines.  I enjoy a Mai Tai with white run, while Ana says her smokey Old Fashion is really good. I know that, because I recommend it, from my last trip in. We are all blown away by their Wagyu Pigs in a Blanket. You remember eating those passed at family events like weddings. Much like hot dogs, it's usually mystery meat and not meat at all. But these days, at this restaurant, it's quality meat, that you dunk into a honey mustard crème fraîche. Talk about comfort food at its' best. I don't eat beef for the most part, but I did enjoy a few of these. Really, really good. Catherine orders the Bbq Pork Belly Nachos. There's no way she can finish them so we all share. AND STILL there's a plate full left over. And it's really good food. They've only been open a couple of weeks, but to have live music, an outside/inside bar area (mostly outside) and a beautiful dining room, so interesting with all the fun things on their shelves and walls, I would say it puts you in a good mood just to hang there, and you can't go wrong. We all are having such a good time. Pretzels and cheese. Good way to start a Happy Hour and also good way to start a meal. Two hours later, Ana and I go into the dining room to meet up with Madu our resident Foodie who also happens to be a top surgeon at Rady's Children's Hospital. He brings Anh, from Seattle who is in from out of town and travels a lot. We bring the pretzels and the restaurant brings us a new bowl of melted cheese. That's good to start! Ana and I are mostly stuffed at this point, so we order a salad plus their Spicy Korean Short Ribs and Fish and Chips.  Their Ribs are good. I've also had their BBQ Ribs. Small, not fatty and delicious. Comes with 'fries done right'. That's the only way I can explain them to you. Ana says:"The fish is fresh." I decide to remove some of the outside beer battered light and fluffy fried part and it blows me away at how light and flakey the fish is. You could NOT do better. We all like the fish and chips, although some of us prefer to steer away from fried foods these days. The fries that go with it, are just perfect. Just the way I remember them from the week before. There's something to be said about consistency. And all of the waiters and waitresses wear their own clothes and try to outdo each other. Nothing but fun at this restaurant! Anh comments:"I didn't expect the delicious rice on the bottom of the short ribs bowl. What a treat." Personally, the next time I go, will will have to get my own order of that dish. So good. Madhu says: "The combination of the salad and spicy ribs are really good." We all have to agree with that! Ana says: "The short ribs have so many interesting components in the dish."  I say to myself quietly" "Oh yeah. I'll be coming back for more of these." So now, we're absolutely stuffed. When the waiter comes to ask if we would like to see the dessert menu we all say in unison: "No. We're too stuffed." He mentions the Monkey Bread with Vanilla Ice Cream, and I say to the group: "I had it last time I was here. It's amazing." Madhu says: "Well I'm sure we can do it with 4 spoons and everyone eating." So I get to enjoy a couple of bits for a second time. If you ever wanted to support a new restaurant, that deserves YOUR support, this comes with our highest recommendation. I hope Culinary Dropouts never goes back to school and just stays in our neighborhood! See you there for sure, because I'm definitely going to be a regular! Chef Marian San Diego Foodies Carlsbad Foodies

Melissa V.

Great place for groups or family dinners. Good service and good food! Definitely recommend and will be coming back.

Pork Belly Nachos

BBQ Pork Belly Nachos ! Fire Great atmosphere and quick hosting had us seated within minutes. Everyone seemed very friendly. Although it took about 15 minutes after the family got there to get my kids food and it did seem like they forgot about us. Great customer service and delicious food, will come back again.

Seared Ahi Tuna, Sizzled Asparagus, Onions and Bell Peppers over Steak Fries.  Uh-mazing!

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Wildland - Malfadine

Wildland

(450 reviews)

$$

Mafaldine past was absolutely incredible! Such great flavor and kid approved too!…read more The drinks were also fresh and delicious, the ricotta olive oil danish was so flavorful and light. Can't wait to come back to this fun place and try more delicious food!

All the rave on IG but does not live up to the hype. Cocktails were underwhelming - no different…read morethan any other so so restaurant. Bread arrived warm on the outside and cold on the inside. For a spot that is also a bakery it was quite disappointing that we would have bread out of the fridge or freezer. They replaced it but it wasn't much better. The grilled cabbage appetizer that was supposedly a hot item was bland without much flavor and had piles of Parmesan on top to cover up the blandness? It would have benefited from a more complex flavor profile. The salmon was over salted and terribly over cooked. Also worth mentioning it was a super small filet for $39. The pea pesto was tasty but needed to be more creamy. For this price point I expected more than just a small salad plate that didn't have anything more than the filet and pesto. The sausage pasta only had a little heat going for it - any other seasoning was unnoticeable and nothing more than what I can do in my own kitchen and could even do better. This place does not compare to its sister restaurants (Campfire and Jeune et Jolie). Definitely not worth the price point and a huge disappointment. Would have much rather spent my money at a hole in the wall that served complex flavors and undeniably satiating dishes.

American Heroes & Brew - Onion rings

American Heroes & Brew

(443 reviews)

$$

Seated immediately and our server was super cheerful and upbeat despite being pretty much the only…read moreone in the front of house during the lunch rush. Drink orders arrived fast and our order was taken soon after getting our drinks. I ordered the Tombstone which is their Western cheeseburger, Two 1/4 lb. patties, bacon, grilled onion, cheddar cheese, AHB BBQ Sauce, topped with onion rings on a brioche bun with a side of onion rings. The portions were huge and the burger was cooked perfectly. The onion rings were pretty standard for what you'd expect but were tasty and a big portion. Beer selection was great and we enjoyed our lunch here. Highly recommended!

If I was just rating the service, it would be 5 stars no question! But since there's food involved,…read moreI want to be honest. I was soooo excited about the Philly connection, as I'm very familiar with cheesesteaks having lived near Philly in a past life. Well, I was sorely disappointed. We were told that the bread is flown in daily from Philly. Well, I don't know where it's coming from because it's definitely not the same bread as what they normally use there. The sandwich and meat were dry and flavorless. Totally underwhelming unfortunately. So then we saw that they made key lime pie there too! Again, I was SUPER excited because key lime pie is my favorite dessert of all time. And again...disappointment. I took one glance and saw that it was light green in color and knew I was gonna be mad. Yall, Key lime pie is yellow. You should NEVER add food coloring. That's just gross and inaccurate. The texture and flavor were also off. Texturally it was way too thick and dense, which would have been fine if it actually tasted like key lime. But it was severely lacking in that tart key lime flavor that it's known for. I'd definitely go back because of the service and vibe. But I'll maybe try a burger and the cheesecake instead.

Eureka!

Eureka!

(892 reviews)

$$

The front desk clerk at our hotel recommended Eureka when we arrived around 10pm and wanted to…read moreunwind a bit. GREAT recommendation! I honestly couldn't believe we'd found a spot like that so close to our hotel. So good that we went there BOTH nights around 9 or 10pm when we were in town. I don't really enjoy regular bar drinks and wasn't that excited to go to Eureka until I sat down and looked at the drink menu. This is my kind of place....plus the food (appetizers & desserts) were great too. Items we tried were fried pickles, onion rings, dry-rub wings, cheesecake, turtle pie and carrot cake. The fried pickles were probably the best I've had. Crisp and delicious batter. The Eureka dry rub is definitely the way to go. I still crave them! Desserts were great too but I was buzzed eating them back at the hotel so you know..... Drinks we tried: Pineapple Tequila Sour, Headhunter King and Wild Child. The first night I ordered and LOVED the Pineapple Tequila Sour and my husband ordered the Headhunter King which he didn't like at all so guess what? I drank it and enjoyed it and he had a spiced rum and coke. LOL The second night I had a couple of Wild Childs. OMG, they are amazing. I wish I could find that drink here in Tucson. My boring husband had more rum & cokes, The environment at Eureka is great. We did sit at the bar both nights and that bar is hoppin'! I like that there is so much outdoor space too which allows families to enjoy themselves and let the kids have room to have fun. Eureka is a great spot and I highly recommend it. Where's my Wild Child?!

The one thing I really like here is that there are many food choices for people with special diets…read more I was not terribly fond of the lavender ice tea. I don't use sugar or sweetener. I was told that it had very little agave. It had more than a little. It was also way more expensive than a regular ice tea and the server didn't make any mention of this. There should have been a warning. The protein bowl was surprisingly good. It had many things that are good for my special diet and changing something was not a problem. Restaurants that have any spice in the food, like this one, should warn the customer that there is spice and offer to leave it our or tone it done if possible. This is a very pleasant indoor/outdoor space. The outdoor seating is covered to protect from the sun. The indoor space is very comfortable too.

Culinary Dropouts - streetvendors - Updated May 2026

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