New Family-Owned Burger Joint In RVC 'Came Out Beautiful'

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY — For Marcello Erickson, burgers are his passion. He is putting the final touches on his second family-owned eatery— No Good Burger Joint.

The new restaurant is expected to open later this month on North Village Avenue (where Wild Feast Cafe was) as a bookend to the Baldwin location.

In between opening the restaurants eight years apart, Erickson found another way to get his menu to customers— food trucks, which got rolling during COVID. There are currently operating five No Good Burger trucks: One is in Massapequa, another is stationed in Farmingdale, while the others move about from Long Island, the city and elsewhere.

"We do a lot of big work. We were just down in North Carolina for a big music festival," Erickson told Patch.

After providing a focus on steakhouse-style burgers in Baldwin, Erickson is giving customers, in the truck and sitting down in Rockville Centre, the popular smash-style burger.

With numerous burger options, Erickson is confident in his product and how it's prepared.

"All of our meat's fresh ground in house daily, prime beef," he said. "We patty them ourselves."

That individual touch is not lost on Erickson, who cites their "hospitality" as another reason customers will keep coming down for the juicy burger.

That welcoming feeling comes from No Good Burger Joint being a family outfit. Erickson is co-partner with his brother Anthony, and their mother works the front of the house in Baldwin, where they are from.

"Learning to separate the business from the family is most important," Erickson said. "We have family dinners, there's no business discussion."

And there would be plenty to chat about with No Good Burger Joint's expansion. Despite the growth, Erickson is not worried about spreading it too thin.

"We're still able to hold on to our core values and not sending out a 'BS' product, giving it our all every single time," he said. "We're very strategic, the way we operate."

Erickson said they have been named a Best Burger on multiple occasions as he readies for the Rockville Centre restaurant. Customers will find such sumptuous items like their classic single, double and triple smash burgers, which come with onions, bread and butter pickles and a house-made smash sauce on a potato bun. They rotate a couple of specialty burgers, including a "Burger of the Month," to fill out the menu.

Appetizers, sides, salads and desserts will also be offered, along with beer and wine.

"The store is done. I went a little over the top on the build out," Erickson said. "It came out beautiful, I think. It's definitely going to be probably one of the nicest restaurants in Rockville Centre."