Culinary Dropout isn’t as edgy as it sounds

I was a little surprised at how normal Culinary Dropout is.

Why would I think otherwise? Well, there’s the provocative name and the edgy website copy, for starters. But while Culinary Dropout at the Hard Rock Hotel (there also are three locations in the Phoenix area) makes the point, for example, that its servers don’t wear uniforms, most of them looked like average people you’d meet on the street, the few whose tats and extreme hair would make them a tough sell on the Strip notwithstanding.

The interior, too, was extremely normal, decorated mostly in soothing neutral shades. We were seated, on a lovely evening, at a table positioned right where a huge wall opens the restaurant to the pool area, and loved the fresh, warm breezes and view of the extensive landscaping.

And the food? “Normal” doesn’t have to equate to “average,” and while it was the former it wasn’t the latter; here Culinary Dropout proved that dropping out can be a good idea, at least for some.

We started with the house potato chips with “famous onion dip” ($7), boomer bait if ever I saw it. But this was a few steps up from the ’60s classic; in this case the chips were house-made, sort of thick and nicely browned, and the dip tasted of caramelized onions, not onion soup.

The house-smoked salmon ($13) beckoned because I wanted to see what they’d do with it. We were served thickish fillets with a hearty smoke flavor that brought to mind skillfully prepared barbecue, without the sauce. Instead, this one had slices of ripe tomato, pickled onions, capers and a sour-cream mixture that our waiter said was the same as that served with our potato chips, plus a poached egg, all of which could be piled at will on the slices of toasted ciabatta. It was a far cry from your average lox plate, each of them just right in their own way.

Jambalaya ($20) was untraditional as well. I ordered this with some trepidation because jambalayas can be soggy affairs, but the mention of okra was promising. Indeed, the large bowl was studded with a surfeit of fresh okra slices, so slightly cooked that they didn’t have the chance to get slimy, plus lots of shrimp, chunks of chicken and Andouille sausage. What we really liked was that the rice mixture, though carrying plenty of kick, was not overly saucy, so that each ingredient stood out clearly on its own while adding to the sum of its parts.

And Bistro Steak ($28), which wasn’t what we expected but was the better for it. When the menu mentioned Gorgonzola cream, mushrooms, roasted Brussels sprouts, potatoes and Madeira jus we expected something that was tantamount to a smothered or Swiss preparation. Instead, the steak, medium-rare as ordered, had been cut into thick slices, the mushrooms, sprouts and potatoes interspersed with them, the Gorgonzola cream providing merely a unifying background note.

Service throughout was very good, our waiter making the point that he’d timed our courses to allow us to enjoy the starters, and refilling water and other beverages before we realized a need.

All of which added up to a very positive experience. Culinary Dropout is more normal than its copywriters would have you believe, but it’s definitely above average.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Email Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at www.reviewjournal.com and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.