Royale Kitchen on Commercial Street in Portland. Photo by Megan Gray

I’ll offer the caveat that I’m not a statistician, but I have a theory that the level of mess in a breakfast sandwich directly correlates to the level of flavor. I can see the graph in my mind. That sad microwaved egg you might buy at an airport coffee kiosk? It will be free both of grease and enjoyment. But the bacon mushroom melt at Royale Kitchen? It was high on both.

I had a good feeling when the woman who delivered the sandwich to me during a recent visit checked the picnic table for a napkin dispenser.

“Thank goodness,” she said, nodding in satisfaction when she saw it. “You’re gonna need them.”

My husband and I visited Royale Kitchen on Commercial Street in Portland on a recent weekday morning. The turquoise picnic tables and jaunty yellow umbrellas made for a nice sitting area outside the small takeout trailer. Royale Kitchen, a new iteration of brick-and-mortar Old Port restaurant Royale Lunch Bar, is now located on the property that includes a beer garden and The Clam Bar, which the same owners recently opened at the longtime site of Benny’s Famous Fried Clams. Only Royale Kitchen was open when we visited, but we found good options for breakfast and lunch on the chalkboard.

The bacon mushroom melt at Royale Kitchen on Commercial Street in Portland. Photo by Megan Gray

I ordered the bacon mushroom melt (grilled mushrooms, fluffy eggs, cheddar, bacon with a sweet onion jam on a griddled onion roll), and my husband got the Royale Breakfast Sandwich (fluffy eggs with grilled poblano, cheddar, cotija and bacon with chipotle crema on a griddled onion roll). I also got an iced chai latte. The sandwiches were less than $10 each, and our order came to roughly $22 before a tip.

The menu also included bagels and another breakfast sandwich, as well as lunch options such as a smoked brisket sandwich. I’ll definitely be back to try the grilled peanut butter and Nutella.

Our food was ready in less than 10 minutes. I’ll state for the record that an onion roll is usually not my choice for a breakfast sandwich (I prefer an English muffin), but I found it to be a nice complement to the flavors of the bacon and mushrooms. It also contained my toppings well, so the sandwich dripped grease but did not lose too many toppings in the eating process. On both sandwiches, the egg was baked rather than fried, but it did not have the rubbery texture that comes with some fast-food options. I had just the right amount of bacon and mushrooms on mine. My husband especially liked the chipotle crema on his, which carried enough spice to linger but not overwhelm.

I didn’t count the number of napkins used between us, but we definitely did make a dent in that dispenser.

The aftermath. Photo by Megan Gray