After a disappointing burger at Back Forty, I wondered if maybe a non-fancy place, one that doesn’t give a damn about fresh greenery or artisanal cheese, would pour more love into its beef patties. I turned to the crowd-wisdom of Yelp.com to help me find a solid East Village burger joint and the reviews of Royale sounded promising. Located on Avenue C, on a stretch once out of the stumbling powers of weekend warriors who come to party but that is now dotted with cute nightspots, Royale has an understated appeal. Inside there’s a bar, baseball on TV, classic rock pumping out of the Wurltizer, and beer in a can on the menu. I’m sorry to say that I was distracted from a thorough perusal by the soaring rock opus that is Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin‘,” (imagine if Pavlov’s dogs played air guitar, and you have an idea of the spell I was under). I barely had the wherewithal to order a Bacon Royale ($7), can of pork slap ($4) and basket onion rings ($4).

In maybe ten minutes, a toothsome stack of medium-well angus beef, crispy bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and tomato was placed before me. On the first bite a dribblet of hot grease ran down my wrist–a juicy, burning harbinger of sweet burger-scouting success. The batter on the onion rings could’ve used a bit more crunch, but I liked how they were sliced thin enough to bite through. No slab of onion becoming dislodged from its battered casing and slopping on your chin here! The pork slap was malty, gingery, and mild like a beery dessert in a can. I don’t think this is the holy grail of burger places, but this is relatively cheap and totally satisfying grub, attainable late, and probably even tastier when you’re drunk.

Eastvillagepodcasts compares Westville and Royale

157 Avenue C near 10th Street
Sun-Thu 4pm-2am. Fri-Sat, 4pm-4am