The newest cool place opening at Domain Northside in North Austin is Culinary Dropout. Located near Nordstrom it’s the perfect place to shop and have great food and drinks. Although it’s not local, it’s definitely an original. Their motto is “We’re not easily definable and even harder to forget.“Besides a huge open space and cool bar area (‘pub’) there is a whole play yard with games for all ages including ping-pong, foosball and UT cornhole (bean bag toss). The seating is super hipster cool from luxe super long couches, to 50’s style bright-colored patio furniture. The outdoor fire pits should be done soon which we’ll definitely go back and try out. Another unique feature is they have cool live music nightly. Most places only do music on weekends.

This gastro-pub experience is different from others.The service is fantastic and there’s a unique ordering process. You get a menu card for the antipasti with meats, cheese, and snacks so you can select which items sound good together. We liked the many appetizer choices-The BBQ Pork Belly Nachos and the chef’s antipasti platter were divine. Our fave though was the Pretzel w/ Provolone Fondue. Original entrees that everyone in the restaurant was ooh-ing and ah-ing were  the Fried Chicken with biscuit, Ma- the Meatloaf? and the Turkey Pastrami Sandwich. The cocktails, “Vices”, were colorful and intriguing-from the sexy Smashed Irishman  and the beautiful Pretty Verdita (relatives of Sangrita) to the naughty Deviant Behavior. View the full photo gallery on our website Austin 101 Magazine.

Culinary Dropout fits perfectly in Austin’s progressive tattooed and ‘weird’ culture based on their own description: “chefs on the line with silver-studded ears and mohawk hairdo, to the inked-up, decked-out bar staff mixologists” For more info check out their website here.