It’s 1 a.m. and Nick Maestas tends to his food truck. It should be the last item on his to-do list as he approaches the end of a 24-hour day of smoking meat for his Lincoln restaurant, pouring a hot cup of cereal-infused coffee at his Omaha coffee shop and prepping his new Omaha restaurant for its spring grand opening.

He makes a last-minute trip to Bellevue and drives the final hour of his day home, where he’ll lay his head on a pillow, grabbing a few hours of sleep before starting another day of much the same.

For Maestas, it’s all a labor of love. He has created his own little kingdom, beginning with a food truck named Flo-Rida and morphing it into Muchachos - a downtown Lincoln eatery that has infused New Mexico flavors with midwestern barbecue. Muchachos has quickly become a favorite for many in the Capital City. Maybe it’s because everyone feels like family there.

The entrepreneur incorporated his love of the Cornhuskers into one of the first deals to compensate college athletes under the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) policy created in 2021 by the NCAA. Husker volleyball player Nicklin Hames and football long snapper Cade Mueller signed a deal to be compensated for dining at Muchachos and sharing the experience on their social media platforms. Maestas quickly gained a reputation as a strong Husker sponsor.

Also in 2021, the cuisine creator dreamed up one of his most famous menu items – the “Pipeline” burrito. This monster of meat and flavor is filled with three different meats, as well as rice, beans and crushed chips. Just a year later in 2022, Malachi Coleman, then a junior at Lincoln East High School, approached Maestas about creating another NIL agreement that would benefit children in foster care. Coleman, a 2023 Husker commit, became one of the first high school athletes to have his own NIL deal with the “Giveritto,” featuring two meats, Hatch chile mac and cheese, and red or green chile.

Maestas’ affection for Husker sports and athletes is an extension of the love he has for people in general. And it started in his grandparents’ home in Cozad. The pair could cure a skinned knee and a broken heart with a meal.

“My grandfather and grandmother … showed me how to love people just by making a meal for them,” Maestas said. “That was love.”

He and his mother lived with his grandparents while he grew up. His mother was 18 when he was born, the child of two high school sweethearts. His father didn’t have a role in his life, Maestas said. His grandfather was the true father figure for him. His mother later married, and Maestas loves his stepfather like a father, too, he said.

But it was his grandparents who made a lasting impression and helped guide his life choices, Maestas noted. Bonifacio Maestas was of Spanish ancestry. Florida Maestas was indigenous, though the family doesn’t know her tribal affiliation. The couple met and married in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and traveled the United States. They even worked farm fields near Bakersfield, California, before ending up in Cozad. They resided there for decades, raising a family of four daughters.

New Mexican cuisine was prevalent in the Maestas family. Recalling trips to his grandparents’ hometown, Hatch chile was the obvious star of dining experiences. “Everywhere we went in New Mexico, it was Hatch chile,” Maestas said.

Bringing the Big Red into his restaurant was an easy decision. Maestas studied broadcasting at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and spent time behind the mic for KRNU, a student-operated radio station.

After his grandfather died in 2012, Maestas sought an avenue to honor his grandparents (his grandmother died earlier). The way that came to mind? Food, of course. The Maestas family decided to create New Mexico-inspired dishes and give the culinary arts a serious try. Maestas ended up serving tacos and enchiladas during an event at Fire Spring, a Lincoln marketing agency. Giving the food away, he sought feedback on the food. He was shocked by one person’s comments.

“He called my enchilada a Mexican Runza,” Maestas said.

Heading back to the kitchen, Maestas became a Nebraska version of young Dr. Frankenstein. Following a stroke of inspiration, he smoked pork butts with a Hatch chile rub. The rest was history.

He and his wife used the meat for tacos, complete with a Hatch green chile salsa and avocado cream. They sold them at a garage sale in Eagle. “We sold 200 of them in an hour and a half,” he recalled. “We had guys buying 10 at a time – and that’s when we knew we had something.”

After that Maestas decided to sell his food by way of a food truck. In 2017, he searched and found what he thought was the perfect truck. In St. Louis, Missouri. Despite a less-than-ideal breakdown, he and the truck made the trip to Lincoln (sometimes going a maximum of 30 miles an hour).

The food truck business took off, with the Maestases serving food at breweries and other outlets. Its success led him to make a life-altering decision – it was time to open a restaurant. So, after devoting his full attention to Flo-Rida, he found a brick-and-mortar location complete with a turquoise blue exterior. Muchachos opened its doors for the first time in 2020.

Despite creating a unique business concept, Maestas has had his fair share of struggles. A mental health battle surfaced following the loss of Bonifacio. The strong culinary leader explained he’d always experienced abandonment issues regarding his biological father. He was later diagnosed with depression and anxiety.

It all came to light following a series of traumatic events – his grandfather, the tragic loss of a friend and trying to save people involved in a vehicle accident near Nebraska City. “It sent me into a place I don’t ever want to go back to,” Maestas said.

Handling his depression and anxiety with counseling and medication, Maestas currently shares his mental health concerns publicly via Twitter. He has become a voice of acceptance in the community.

“It was an outlet,” he said. “Even if I have to deal with idiots being mean, if one person can see that they’re not alone in this, it’s worth it.”

Adding Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to his list of mental health challenges, Maestas said he appreciates being able to address them.

The secret to Muchachos menu begins and ends with the Hatch chile salsa, its creator revealed. It goes in everything, from a breakfast taco to mac and cheese. Diners won’t find lettuce and tomato added to their tacos or burritos, either. The restaurant sticks close to New Mexico style of southwest food, except for adding Midwestern barbecue (smoked) meat and the absence of lettuce, tomato or cilantro.

Burritos come in 14-inch griddled flour tortillas and feature the Hatch chile salsa, crema and a protein. The Hatch Mac Burrito adds mac and cheese. Told by customers they needed to serve nachos, Maestas added those too, with his own flare. This dish features a Hatch chile-infused queso that is liberally spread over nacho chips. Nachos are among the restaurant’s most popular items. The list of menu items goes on.

After creating a successful eatery, Maestas expanded his business again. He’s added two food trucks (after selling the original one), bought Meta Coffee Lab (also in Lincoln) and opened CTRL Coffee in Omaha (a cereal and coffee bar which sports a colorful 1980s Saturday morning cartoon-watching theme). This spring he also opened a second Muchachos location, in Omaha’s Little Bohemia.

There are still appearances by food trucks for catering and special events – like Nebraska football outings.

Every location (mobile or not) is filled with a warm and fuzzy feeling, ready to welcome all walks of life, because the original mission has stayed the same. Maestas honors his grandparents.

“Muchachos was created to share the legacy of love through food,” he said.