Clouds of pepper-filled smoke entice residents to stop by Irie Jerk seven days a week in Brooklyn, New York. On Nostrand Avenue, the small Jamaican restaurant perfectly fits the no-frills “hole in the wall” aesthetic that locals flock to. Owner and head chef Niki Gordon oversees two sizzling grills all day.
She said her small business is doing so well that she sells an average of about 400 pounds of jerk chicken a day, compared to just a few dozen pounds per day last year. “I have customers from Singapore, California, London,” Gordon said. “I mean, these people flew here just to get my chicken.
” Gordon is just the latest business owner in New York City to become a viral success thanks to content creator Nicolas Nuvan. Nuvan, 29, has built a following of over 2.3 million people on TikTok .
Nuvan posts his travels around New York City’s boroughs and profiles anyone willing to talk to him, with interviewees ranging from small-business owners to street vendors and even just regular pedestrians. “It’s just me and my filmer Jaime, and we almost never have a plan,” Nuvan said. “Sometimes we’ll walk like 30 blocks and nothing will happen.
And sometimes we’ll go out and we’ll walk around and something will happen.” His videos primarily focus on Caribbean communities, mostly in Brooklyn and Queens. “I’m just somebody that’s interested in cultures and communities and sharing with people,” Nuvan said.
That taste for curiosity has even taken Nuvan out.