Wing man: New eatery puts its own spin on classics

Restaurants trying for the rustic look, whether they’re franchises or independents, usually hang up a few rustic-looking artifacts: farm implements, cow skulls, barbed wire displays, etc.

Franchises usually do a better job of it, since a lot of thought goes into appearances, whereas independents sometimes seem to get distracted halfway through the interior decorating process.

In this sense the Wing Barn looks like a franchise, though it’s not, at least not yet. Wing Barn majority owner Bobby Saenz is clearly someone who pays attention to detail — from the restaurant’s "flying barn" logo and wall-mounted pitchforks to the corrugated tin wainscoting, milk cans and other down home touches.

Maybe it’s the business education peeking through: Saenz, a Laredo native and H-E-B store director in Harlingen, earned a degree in business management from Texas Tech in 2002.

He says the attention to detail extends to the Wing Barn’s menu, full of original recipes concocted by Saenz’s business partner, Daniel Pompa, a Brownsville native and graduate of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Austin.

The Wing Barn’s business model of burgers, wings and beer means the menu is pretty simple, though it features some imaginative wing sauces, with cilantro chipotle lime, raspberry chipotle and Thai sesame sharing the bill with less exotic standards — 13 sauces in all.

Appetizers include crispy fried pickle chips and sweet potato fries. The dessert menu, which includes funnel cake, fried Oreos and fried Twinkies along with cheesecake and banana pudding, might have been conceived at the Texas State Fair midway.

Saenz likes to brag about his burgers, which he’s christened with rust-sounding names like Ranch Hand, Big Barn, The Ranchero and The Bull. All are half-pound burgers, except for the Big Barn, which is a full pound.

"The burgers you can’t go wrong with," he says. "We’ve got certified Angus burgers. We could do just regular ground beef, but we do certified Angus beef for all the burgers. That makes us different."

Saenz believes this gives him an edge over all the other wing and burger joints out there. But why choose wings/burgers/beer as a business venture in the first place, with so many other people doing it?

"Everybody likes wings," Saenz says. "Everybody likes burgers and beer. We try to make it a cozy environment that’s family oriented, where it’s comfortable, you can have a conversation, bring the kids in and just have a good time."

The Wing Barn, which opened its doors May 27, does roughly 700 transactions a week and employs 16 people. Saenz wants to grow those numbers, though he concedes it’s a challenge for a young restaurant — even one with fried Oreos for dessert — to advertise and establish itself on a limited budget.

The immediate goals are to spread the word, "do everything right" and stay in business — essential to the partners’ long-term plans, which could involve additional locations within a year or two, depending on how things go.

"I think we have a great business plan and a great menu," Saenz says. "I hope we can continue to get bigger and continue to employ more people. That’s my ultimate goal — to have 200 people working for Wing Barn."

Wing Barn, 3025 Boca Chica Blvd., next to LFD Home Furnishings. Hours: 11 a.m. to 12 a.m., Monday through Sunday. Phone: 547-WING (9464).