Teen opens NYC taco joint — all before high school graduation

The restaurant business is grueling enough for an adult, but Aiden Sterling is knocking it out of the park while barely old enough to vote.

The hyper-ambitious 18-year-old is bucking the stereotype of the TikTok-addicted Gen Z layabout by running a successful Brooklyn taqueria — while still in high school.

Sterling is the owner of Tacos Del Barrio, a vibrant joint in Park Slope near Barclays Center that specializes in Mexican specialties from juicy tacos al pastor ($9.50) to burritos the size of duffel bags ($15.95 for carne asada) and his tres leches cake ($7.50), which are all made fresh daily in-house.

Opened just last month, his taco joint is serving around 165 checks a day with a second location slated to open in FiDi this fall — not bad for a guy who, when The Post visited, was balancing his business duties while also trying to secure a suit for his senior prom.

“I learn everything from scratch,” Sterling, who manages a crew of eight, said. “And I’m just going day by day.”

“My biggest goal here at Tacos Del Barrio is that once people come in through the doors, hopefully, you leave with a better feeling.”

The self-assured senior attends classes from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. at James Madison High School in Midwood, and then rides his electric bike across Brooklyn and to Tacos Del Barrio, where he works his butt off from 12 p.m. until 12 a.m.

Midnight to 3 a.m. is reserved for schoolwork, often completed at the counter of his restaurant, which leaves him just three to four hours of sleep a night.

Sterling insists that [school is] still the “number one thing at the end of the day,” declaring, “obviously, business is business. But I gotta graduate.”

How does this budding Danny Meyer spin all these plates at such a young age — and without any prior restaurant industry experience? He credits his three years as captain of his high school basketball team.

“This work ethic came from being an athlete first,” the food world wunderkind said. “I think of work like basketball. I have my starting five (employees) and I’m going with the flow.”

Much like a high school star getting scouted by the NBA, he came upon the opportunity while working out at the Lifetime gym, where he became close with the owners of Poke Bowl United, a fast-casual chain with 14 branches across New York, New Jersey and Long Island.

“[We were] working out three, four months, five and every day,” Sterling recalled. “And they were like, ‘hey man, we love your work ethic.’”

The team explained they were “signing a lease” in Brooklyn and wanted to give the teen the “reins,” provided he could come up with a viable idea. The starry-eyed Sterling noted the area had a gaping quick-serve Mexican void.

“They believed in me. A kid with no money,” said Sterling, who put all the dough he saved up from lifeguarding into the venture while the Poke Bowl crew handled the rest of the financials, background and logistics.

He spent months researching Mexican joints — which required him to miss his beloved basketball practice — and he compiled the best elements of his favorite taco joints: the housemade corn tortillas and core protein bases like Los Tacos No. 1 and a best-selling battered fish taco like Los Tacos’ sister restaurant, Los Mariscos.

“My motto here is authentic, but with a twist,” said Sterling, who runs Tacos Del Barrio’s social media as well. “Authentic is the chef’s part. I say, ‘Hey, let’s kick it up a notch and put some of this stuff that I found to be interesting at other locations.’”

One of the junior restaurateur’s proudest inventions is a take on Trader Joe’s “corn ribs” that involves splitting elote — savory Mexican street corn with queso fresco and chili powder — into manageable slices like maize McNuggets ($6.95).

Still, the high school hotshot has no illusions about working in the restaurant biz, which he called the “hardest industry in the world.”

“You have to make people happy with the food … you have to be consistent,” he said. “So this morning I came in and something was off. I was like, ‘I can’t serve this.’ So we remade it. That’s my quality control.”

All told, Sterling loves the freedom and creativity.

“I can do whatever I want to,” said the culinary prodigy. “You can’t do it with a nine-to-five. I have so many ideas and thoughts in my head that I just want to get out and do.”

With high school graduation approaching on June 23, Sterling will have more time to dedicate to Tacos Del Barrio.

“It’ll be much easier,” said the food phenom, who plans to take a gap year to put “101%” into the business.

“I want to get to the point where I’m known as Aiden from Tacos Del Barrio and any other venture that I do, it would succeed because people can trust me,” he said. For now, he just hopes to “stay consistent and continue to have fun.”