One of Long Island's top burger spots, No Good Burger Joint, is known for its thick steak burgers brimming with decadent toppings like vodka sauce and macaroni and cheese. The small but mighty restaurant, which opened in Baldwin in 2017, is on Newsday's standout burgers list. 

So it's a surprise that its new Rockville Centre location eschews the beefy burgers for a slimmed-down smashburger that's half the size of the original. And yet, it's still a fantastic burger.

Co-owner Marcello Erickson said that he and his brother, Anthony, got into serving smashburgers during the COVID pandemic. The two wanted to open a food truck and figured smashburgers would be easier to prepare in a smaller space. They've since expanded to a legion of five food trucks in addition to the Baldwin restaurant. So when an opportunity came along to open a second brick and mortar spot, they decided smash was the way to go. 

"You're not worried about cooking a medium-rare or medium-well," Erickson said. "You’re smashing the thing and going about your day." 

The bustling location opened late May in the former home of the recently-closed Wild Feast Cafe. The new spot has a pared-down menu that focuses more on classic burgers than the kitschy nostalgia of Baldwin's No Good Burger Joint. But the attention to detail is still there, with the same high-quality burger blend from Double R Ranch, ground in-house every day, Erickson said. In addition to the regular smash, for a couple extra dollars you can sub out an American Wagyu beef blend that's also ground in-house.

Either way, you're going to get some of the best smashburgers on the island. The mushroom Swiss ($23 for a double, and you should go double or go home) is 8 to 10 bites of beefy heaven. The plump shrooms are contained under the Martin's potato roll and the cheese melts over the crispy burger edges in the most manageable way. There are seven burger options and the wildest one is a Hawaiian burger with pineapple, bacon and a fried egg. But they're so tasty, you almost want to order a second. 

The place also does a bang-up wedge salad ($19) with a boatload of lush blue cheese and a thick slab of fatty bacon, so good that you don't care whether it's healthy. And don't sleep on the warm cookie skillet ($14) for dessert. The restaurant was packed on a recent Sunday night. 

"We kinda shot the ball and swooshed it I guess," Erickson said. "We learned from our mistakes, anything bad you can go through, we went through. Trials and tribulations. But somehow you always make it out. We kind of keep going. At this point, there’s not really anything stopping us."

No Good Burger Joint, 88 N. Village Ave., Rockville Centre, 516-208-7661, ngbjrvcny.com. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday.