Burger of the month: A great lamb burger in Laguna Beach’s Arts District

Mediterranean restaurants aren’t usually notable for their hamburgers. Zéytoon Cafe in Laguna Beach is a welcome exception.

Zéytoon is an interesting little wine bar with an outdoor dining room (two, actually, one upstairs, one downstairs) at the corner of Coast Highway and Jasmine Street in the Arts District just north of downtown. The building has dedicated parking but only for 30 minutes, and it takes that long for the food to come out, so you’ll need to compete with summertime tourists and beachgoers for a spot on the street, which might require several circles through the hillside neighborhood. It’ll be a charming walk.

Lamb burger at Zéytoon Cafe in Laguna Beach (Photo by Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Recently revamped by new owners (which include the former chefs from The Ranch in Anaheim), the limited menu is designed for snacking and sipping: mostly Mediterranean-style dips, crudité and charcuterie but also pita sandwiches and a burger. I can only speak to the latter.

It’s a beauty. The meat is lamb, not beef, a mildly spicy housemade sausage styled after Morocco’s merguez. It’s served on a pillowy black-olive-infused bun, dressed with creamy tzatziki made from sheep’s milk feta, plus a good slathering of harissa aioli and a few leaves of arugula.

“Would you like fries with that?” the server asks when I order, adding, “It’s not on the menu but we do have french fries for a few extra dollars if you want.”

I say yes, and it turns out the fries are just ordinary. The burger, however, is absolutely delicious. So, too, is the Sangiovese rosé that I’m sipping while I linger in the summer sunshine, basking in the ocean breeze. I fought hard for that parking spot, and I’m not quite ready to give it up just yet.