Deeming Deemer's Worthy?

Deemer's American Grill

27221 La Paz Road, Suite E

Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

New year, and a new burger joint. So I guess that new years resolution will have to wait until 2012. Okay, you know me better than to make a resolution about not eating. That is not going to happen! I do hope that you had a great new years, and I look forward to a great year ahead of eating and sharing some great places with you.

To start off the year we headed to Deemer's, a new hamburger place that just opened up close to my work. Deemer's, according to their web site, says that their purpose is simple, they want to, "grill handcrafted burgers into perfection".  Let's see if they make good on that promise.

Deemer's kind of has a "Counter",  feel to it. Minimal decor is the order of the day at Deemer's. You order at the counter, get your number, and the food is brought out by the eager to please, young staff. I actually made two trips to Deemer's, one on a Sunday afternoon, and the next was a weekday for lunch. Sunday was a real busy day, almost every seat was taken. The weekday was not too packed, but they had a steady stream of customers coming through the door. Now on to the food.

Katie's burger will start things off for us. She opted for the Napa Burger. This burger featured goat cheese, roma tomatoes, red onion, baby spinach, and basil pesto aioli. This unusual burger got high praise from Katie. Starting with the bun, that she found to be, "sturdy". She also thought that the burger was juicy, and the fact that they did not pile on the toppings, really brought out the flavor of the meat.

My first burger at Deemer's was the Hickory Burger. The hickory burger is comprised of cheddar cheese, bacon, onion rings, tomato, lettuce, and BBQ sauce. This burger tasted fresh, but could have used a little more BBQ sauce. The burger lacked the wow factor that I was looking for. It was a decent burger, but nothing that had me craving more.

The French Fries and Onions Rings here really needed to be salted more. Unfortunately, there were no salt shakers on any table, so there was no chance for me to try them with salt. The crispness of the fried foods is spot on, but they are lacking in flavor. The french fries are fresh, but they seem to be missing something. The last picture shows the absolute absence of grease anywhere on the paper that the once held the fries. I found this to be a little odd. The same was true of the onion rings, no grease. I guess that means they are good for you.

My second burger was the B & B Burger. Blue Cheese, bacon, tomato, lettuce, and herb aioli all combined to make this burger. This was better than my first burger. The flavors were more pronounced, but the burger patty was cut in half, along with our other burger we got, I assume to check for doneness. Not a big deal, but I thought that was a little weird. I would get this burger again, but I would ask for more aioli on it, they put so little on it that it was un-noticeable, and I think it would add to this burger.

Richard was very excited to see his burger on the menu, the Caliente Burger. A rare burger that is made with queso fresco cheese, jalapenos, tomato, lettuce, and Deemer's fire sauce. Richard felt that the meat alone was under-seasoned, but he liked the toppings on this burger, and would get this one again.

Deemer's has a few kinks to work out, which is to be expected. First, and foremost on their list of tweaks, should be the introduction of a value meal. A burger, fries and a drink should not cost over $12. They also need to work on their seasonings, and the way they apply their condiments. I am not saying to go the Carl's route, where you slather sauces all over the place, but a little more would push this burger  into a higher class of burger. I liked the uniqueness of the burger choices here, and I look forward to trying a few more in the future.

Out of five verdicts, (because a deemer is an occupation that is tasked with pronouncing the verdict in a court of law), five being best to zero being worst, Deemer's gets 2.5 verdicts.

Okay, I went to Deemer's one more time this week, but forgot to bring my camera. They now have salt shakers on the tables, and that did add to the fries and onion rings. The burger still needed some seasoning, but it still tasted pretty good. I again had the B & B burger, and the extra aioli really made this burger better. I also got to try their BLT, and it tasted great. The sandwich came on parmesan crusted texas toast, which really enhanced the sandwich. I will stick with my rating, but they are moving in the right direction.

For more information on Deemer's, click here: http://www.deemersgrill.com/