Wood we like the Lumberyard? Get it?

Lumberyard

384 Forest Ave.

Laguna Beach, CA

So Katie was watching her cousin's dog in Laguna this past weekend. I never really am in this area, so after a quick search on Yelp, we came up with the Lumberyard. It is in the old Cedar Creek location. The story goes that this location was also the home of Laguna Beach Lumber Company for 62 years, hence the name of this establishment.

As we step inside the atmosphere is one of an up-scale dinner club. This Friday night they have a smooth latin/jazz sound that integrates itself into the feel of the place. The place is large, and busy, but we get right in on this Friday night at 7.

The menu is not huge, but has plenty of classic faire to choose from. Anyone can find something to pick from on the menu, whatever is your mood, from steaks, pastas, classic foods, burgers and sandwiches. So now on to the food...

These are the Lumberyard Planks, fried zucchini served with a killer lemon aioli sauce. Fried neatly without being greasy, there were so many on the plate, this could have served four people easily.  The sauce was great and was not too over-powering. Good value at nine dollars.

I was going back and forth on what to order between the Lumberyard Burger or the meatloaf wrapped in bacon, this trip I decided on the burger. The burger was cooked perfectly, with lots of bleu cheese, onions and mushrooms. Good stuff! The egg bun topped the burger off nicely. The fries were cooked well, and had a great crunch to them.

Katie got the prime rib french dip. Lots of meat piled on this sandwich, but she did say there was a lot of pieces with fat on them. The meat was good, but the sour cream horseradish needed a little less sour cream and more horseradish, it was kind of bland tasting, also some cheese on this sandwich would have been good. Once again the french roll that they used on this sandwich was great.

Now time for dessert. I went with the Hog Heaven pie. Cookie crust, chocolate ganache and peanut butter mousse. This was really rich, and had a cheesecake consistency to it. Not too bad, but nothing to go hog wild about.

All in all I felt this place was pretty good. It is the kind of joint you would go for special occasions. Prices were a little steep, but sometimes you need to splurge. So out of five axes, the Lumberyard receives 3.5 axes.

For more information on the Lumberyard, check them out here: http://www.lblumberyard.com/