This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

FOOD REVIEW: Deemer's American Grill Doing Burgers Right

Deemer's American Grill in Laguna Niguel offers a nice blending of classic diner menu choices along with modern and healthy options.

If you like the feel of an old-fashioned diner along with fresh and healthy options, you might want to try in Laguna Niguel. Deemer’s is located at 27221 La Paz, near the Sprouts Market. From the outside, you can see the fairly large, covered patio, which is decorated with white lights and has lots of seating. Inside, it is bright and warm, with a mix of colorful photos of their food and black and white images of diners and burger joints from decades past.

The menu is pretty extensive and is posted on large plaques near the door. The woman who was taking orders noticed us trying to take it all in and graciously came over and mentioned some of the highlights and specials.

Burgers are a focus of the menu and they are made with grass-fed Angus beef, or if you like, a ground turkey patty can be substituted for the beef. Of course, there are the usual burgers, but the more unique options include the Napa, made with goat cheese, tomato, sautéed onion and pesto aioli, and the California, which is topped with Monterey cheese, and avocado relish and herb aioli. If you love a veggie burger, they offer one topped with sautéed zucchini, red pepper, sautéed onions, Monterey cheese, spinach and tomato herb aioli.

Find out what's happening in Laguna Niguel-Dana Pointwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In addition to burgers, there are a variety of chicken sandwiches, such as a buffalo style chicken sandwich made with blue cheese, red hot sauce, and two cabbage peanut coleslaw. The poblano chicken sandwich features a toasted poblano, pico de gallo, Monterey cheese, onion, romaine lettuce, and chipotle aioli. The rosemary chicken is marinated in olive oil and fresh rosemary and topped with cheese, arugula, onion, tomato and herb aioli.

Classic sandwiches are served with fries, coleslaw or a house salad. Some of the most tempting are the roasted turkey sandwich, which includes smoked bacon, avocado, balsamic onion marmalade, arugula, tomato, and herb aioli on toasted ciabatta, and the tuna melt made with Kalamata-caper aioli and Swiss, served on Texas toast. For a South of the Border twist, the carnitas sandwich is slow roasted pulled pork, Mex cheese, avocado relish sautéed jalapenos, and chipotle aioli on toasted ciabatta.

Find out what's happening in Laguna Niguel-Dana Pointwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

All sandwiches and burgers can be made to order and can be further customized with a fairly extensive list of “extras” that can be added, such as sautéed mushrooms, olives, beef chili, crisp onions, etc. For those watching their carbs, all sandwiches can be served on a lettuce wrap instead of a bun.

For those not in a sandwich mood, salad options include a fresh vegetable, Caesar, spicy ginger, Mex, Mediterranean, and a chicken Cobb. Soups include chili and a soup of the day. There is even a section of hot dogs. For the little ones, the kids’ meals include a mini burger, grilled cheese or chicken strips.

Beverage choices range from hand-scooped milkshakes and malts made with custard ice cream to a wide variety of beer on tap and by the bottle as well as wine. On tap beers include, Racer 5 IPA, Mad River Jamaica Red Ale, and Coronado Orange Wit, among others. A few examples from the bottled beer menu are: Blue Moon, Fat Tire, Samuel Adams and Sierra Nevada.

After some guidance through the menu, Jim chose the November burger of the month, the Caesar Salad Burger, which includes a Parmesan crisp, hearts of romaine, shaved Parmesan and Caesar aioli. To drink, he selected the Mad River Jamaica Red Ale, after our server let him taste a little sample, to make sure he would be happy with his choice. I chose the Mediterranean salad and an iced tea.

The food was brought to our table quickly. The burger was served in a red plastic basket lined with brown paper. It looked good and tasted great. The Parmesan crisp was very thin, and gave the taste of a crouton on a Caesar salad. The aioli was delicious. My salad was large and looked fresh and appealing. In addition to the usual ingredients of a Mediterranean salad, this also had cubes of red potato and fresh green beans, which were nice additions. The dressing was not overly tangy and vinegar-y as can be the case with this salad, and there were lots of Kalamata olives, which I loved.

We thought Deemer’s was great! The atmosphere is bright and comfortable. The service is very friendly and helpful. The menu is appealing and fun and the food is quite good. Deemer’s is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

I give Deemer’s American Grill 3 ¾ Patches out of 5.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?