Review: No Good Burger Joint

Inspired by the iconic Peter Luger, a new generation of burger maestros is taking the beefy bistro burger and bringing it into 2026. No Good Burger Joint rises to the top of this crop, with its half-pound works of meaty perfection. Baldwin-native Marcello Erickson is not afraid of an Instagram mashup, adding burgers with peanut butter, mac and cheese and a grilled cheese smashburger to his menu. 

But he also has a chef's eye and an attention to detail that's unmatched in the burger space here. He may not be touting any dry-aged grass-fed beef on the menu; he uses prime. But his meat is ground fresh daily, and put through the grinder twice to create a more fine and uniform texture. His chefs generously dust the outside with pepper and sear the heck out of it, to create a crunchy shell that leads to juicy pink meat. Some of his burgers have a lot of ingredients but all of them have flow. The bun is never too toasted; it is soft. And there's never too much lettuce making it hard to bite. 

Erickson is on a roll these days with two restaurant locations, a fleet of five roaming food trucks and a new spot on the way on Park Avenue in Long Beach. He's also modifying the menus of his two brick-and-mortars to be more similar, so now both Baldwin and Rockville Centre have bistro burgers as well as smashburgers. And both are great. The mushroom Swiss smashburger has juicy sautéed shrooms with cheese that melts over the crispy burger edges. 

But the standard bistro burger is the way to go. The half-pound burger is topped with a massive slice of thick and super fatty bacon that spools off the sides, like the burger is sticking out its tongue at you. It's also got the ring of raw onion a'la Peter Luger on the bottom, and for that extra oomph, a sunnyside egg. 

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