Aiden Sterlin extended the hours of his second location of Tacos del Barrio on Nassau Street, which opened last month, with service until 3 a.m. on some days, partly to cater to nearby students at Pace University. He probably gets confused for one of his late-night customers all the time.
“All those kids are my age,” Sterlin told the Downtown Alliance about his late-night patrons. “I figured, why not help them out and be there for them?”
That age is 18 and Sterlin, barely four months out from his high school graduation, already operates two Tacos del Barrio locations. The first one opened near the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in May, garnering quite a bit of media attention once the masses got wind that a high schooler had opened his own successful business. The new iteration at 71 Nassau St. opened in October and is already a late-night tour de force, with lines out the door at all hours.
Sterlin said he specifically picked Lower Manhattan for the new outpost, drawn to the area by the Pace dorms down the street and other nearby late-night legends like Two Brothers pizza and 7th Street Burger.
“I wanted to join them,” he said. “I wanted to be a part of that.”
He owes some of his success to his workout routine. A gym enthusiast, Sterlin met and befriended the owners of area chain Poke Bowl United during his five-day-a-week workout sessions at a local Lifetime gym. The Poke Bowl team were so impressed with Sterlin’s work ethic that they offered him a chance to run his own fast-casual food concept in a space they leased in Brooklyn. Sterlin got started while still finishing up his senior year in high school; now, he splits his time between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Tacos del Barrio locations, sometimes working from 9 a.m. until 4 a.m, before hopping on his e-bike for a 37 minute ride back to his parents’ place in Midwood, Brooklyn.
For now, Sterlin is forgoing college in favor of focusing on his business.
“I was opening up my second location already and I was like, ‘you know what? I want to put 101 percent into this,’” he said. “And I couldn’t do that whilst I was in school.”
Instead, Sterlin is getting on-the-ground, real-life training when it comes to running a business. He has 14 employees at his Lower Manhattan taco shop, and is on site with them to keep everything running smoothly — and to lead by example.
“I’m a hard-working kid that works with you,” he said.
Sterlin also prides himself on Tacos del Barrio’s excellent offerings, which are well worth the wait when the line gets long. The most popular menu item is the al pastor taco, though Sterlin takes particular pride in the elote corn ribs. Speaking of long lines, Taco del Barrio utilizes its busy spot on the corner of Nassau and John Streets well, drawing in hungry diners with a bright, inviting space that matches Sterlin’s positive energy. For Sterlin especially, the bustling location is a great opportunity to people-watch, particularly on the weekends when things get “nuts.”
“It’s so interesting, dude,” he said. “It’s the city, everyone’s different.” Chalk that up to one more thing you can’t learn in school.
