THE GOSSIPING GOURMET: Lumberyard offers hearty American fare

The buzz around town these days is all about the Lumberyard, the new restaurant that has supplanted the Cedar Creek Inn. The challenge for restaurateur Cary Redfearn is whether it can replace Cedar Creek in the hearts and stomachs of Lagunans. Judging by the crowds that line up at the large bar or pack the dining rooms, it seems to be doing just that.

Kudos must go to architect Gregg Abel for retaining the Old World feel of this landmark building while creating a warm, contemporary ambience. The room has been completely opened up but divided with low walls that allow everyone to view the action around the large eat-in bar area while still cozily ensconced at a booth or table in one of the three dining areas. On warm nights or at lunch, you may also enjoy your meal on the newly expanded patio.

One room is dominated by an attractive wall of wine bottles. A fireplace creates conviviality in another and the third, which is all dark wood and leather booths, feels intimate and comfortable. Candles and table lamps light the rooms, the walls have dark wood wainscoting and the beautiful recessed ceiling is also wood; together, they create a delightful atmosphere for dining. The bar area is more modern with interesting hanging fixtures and a high vaulted ceiling dominated by elaborate beam work.

The menu is American favorites, somewhat reminiscent of Cedar Creek but with their own particular twist.

Starters include a number of fried items that are done well, not too much batter, not greasy and nicely crispy: beer-battered onion rings, zucchini strips (Lumberyard planks) and fried calamari. The calamari is both rings and tentacles, which is the way we like it, and the batter was light and crunchy. We mixed together the two savory dipping sauces, lemon aioli and marinara (Elle is always cooking). An excellent, nicely smoky, grilled artichoke, served with the same lemon aioli, was one of the best we’ve had lately. Less successful was the ceviche with shrimp and avocado. It had very little flavor, none of the expected tartness from citrus juice, nor the taste of fresh chilies, onions, cilantro or tomato. It was just plain bland. Some other starter choices are skillet cornbread with honey butter (no bread is served with dinner), ahi tartar and steamed clams.

Lumberyard’s house salad is like a BLT “” lots of smoky bacon and chopped hard-boiled egg. Caesar or iceberg wedge can be turned into an entrée with the addition of chicken, calamari, ahi or shrimp.

The Hawaiian ahi burger is topped with shitake mushrooms and served with an Asian style sesame aioli. The ahi steak was nicely grilled on the outside and cooked rare, while the slightly sweet egg bun was also grilled and had a thin crust, not the usual white bread bun. The flavor combination was quite tasty. The house burger is gussied up with Cabrales blue cheese, caramelized onions, Swiss, bacon and mushroom chips. There is also a prime rib French dip sandwich. All sandwiches come with a choice of fries, sweet potato fries, rice, green beans or sautéed spinach. We opted for sweet potato fries, which were surprisingly crispy and hard to resist.

We’d heard a lot about the chicken pot pie and were not disappointed. It comes in a crock with a thin crust baked on top. The sauce is very flavorful and mildly herby. It had a nice consistency “” not overly thickened. It was chock full of chunks of white meat chicken, diced carrots and green peas.

The generous portion of meatloaf, topped with cheese, is very finely textured, almost like a paté. The complex seasoning is very lively with a robust amount of garlic. It makes a hearty and tasty dinner accompanied by creamy whipped potatoes and gravy.

The herb-crusted rib eye steak is accurately described. It is literally coated with herbs, so much so that you cannot taste the meat. A good Tuscan steak rubbed with olive oil and herbs can be delicious but this was misguided. We found it inedible. We know they are still tweaking their menu and hope they plan to part with this one.

On two occasions the juicy, brown rotisserie chicken was too salty. A shame because, it is really very good chicken. We suspect that it has been over brined. The second time, we asked for vegetables instead of the ordinary mashed potatoes and were delighted with the perfectly cooked and seasoned combination of green beans, asparagus and broccolini. This chef definitely has a way with vegetables. Next time we’ll go for the vegetable plate with grilled artichoke as an entrée.

Three desserts round out the menu. Their signature is the hog heaven pie, consisting of a chocolate cookie crumb crust, a dense layer of chocolate ganache topped with peanut butter mousse, finished with whipped cream. One bite does it unless you’re training for a marathon. There is also a crème brulée and a seasonal cobbler and we admit to being cobbler freaks. The evening selection was apple-mango, which sounded good to us and indeed it was good but it had no mango and wasn’t a cobbler. In fact, it was more like a rustic pie that was filled with apples and punctuated with cranberries. Both crust and filling were really yummy and we really didn’t care that it had no crumb topping.

There are two unique features at Lumberyard. One is call-ahead seating, which means that if you haven’t made a reservation, you can call ahead from home or car to get your name on the waiting list. The other is “stuff to go,” a rotisserie chicken for $15 or a rotisserie chicken dinner for two with all the trimmings: mashed potatoes, green beans and skillet corn bread with honey butter, for $24. There is a yellow curb parking space in front to facilitate pick-up.

As with any new restaurant, the long-awaited Lumberyard is still working out a few kinks but its future looks bright.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Lumberyard, (949) 715-3900, lblumberyard.com

WHERE: 384 Forest Ave.

WHEN: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; bar, nightly until 1 a.m.

PRICES:

Appetizers: $6 to $17

Entrées: $12 to $33

Desserts: $8 to $9

WINE:

Bottles: $28 to $115

By the glass: $8 to $22

Corkage fee: $10

ELLE HARROW and TERRY MARKOWITZ owned a la Carte for 20 years and can be reached at th emarkos755@yahoo.com.