Enrique Barranco opened Wraptor Restaurant and Bar a few years ago at 358 Columbia St. at the corner of Seabring St. in Red Hook. He spoke about the challenges the restaurant faces, the best parts of his job, and his love for Red Hook.
“I knew owning a restaurant was part of the dream but I wasn’t sure if I was going to do it,” Barranco said. “For five years before opening Wraptor I knew the economy was bad and I was thinking about opening my own business.
“Before opening Wraptor, I worked for five different restaurants with the same owner. I started off doing deliveries and washing dishes. While I was there I learned about being a chef and I started thinking maybe I could open my own restaurant. I felt like I did this for 25 years straight and that it was the right time for me to open up my own restaurant. It was the only job I ever had my whole life.”
Barranco lived on Pioneer St. for 14 years and even though he moved out of Red Hook to Borough Park, he always loved the neighborhood and knew he would like to come back.
“I always loved Red Hook and I think that it’s a very different place from the City,” Barranco said. “
It’s like a nice, quiet town. I’ve always looked for places like this and I think that it’s a nice, peaceful neighborhood. Even though I don’t live in Red Hook anymore I still like to come here.”
While one of the benefits of the blocks surrounding Wraptor is it’s a peaceful area, it also creates a challenge as there is not a lot of foot traffic. Wraptor has a lot of events and celebrations to draw people to the restaurant. Some of the events include Mother’s Day and Father’s Day Celebrations, watch parties for games, karaoke nights, jazz nights, and comedy shows.
Options on Wraptor’s menu range from empanadas, chicken wings, soups, and salads as starters to various types of fried rice, pasta, sandwiches, fish, steak, wraps, or burgers for the main course. There are also many breakfast options, like bacon, eggs, and French toast and the portions at the restaurant are very generous.
“I think not getting a lot of foot traffic is the biggest challenge,” Barranco said. “You have the most famous sandwich shop Defonte’s a block away, and you can go have Jamaican food at Jam’It Bistro right across the street. There are a lot of great options for food so I’m hoping we can attract more customers to the area.”
While it’s tough to attract foot traffic, Wraptor does get a lot of business from The Lodge, a hotel at 17 Seabring St.
“Every day there are some new customers and my biggest support comes from the hotel,” Barranco said. “Without them, I don’t know if I could make it. It’s cool because there are customers from Europe, from Latin America, from Japan, from any part of the world and that’s very nice. We get to meet a lot of different people. There are a lot of people who come from the cruise ships. From the neighborhood, there are some people that come once a month or once every two months but not a lot of regulars.”
Barranco even met one couple from Germany who ate at Wraptor many times during their stay in New York and they have stayed in touch and sent him cards now that they’re back in Germany.
Adding a community fridge
Barranco also wants to help the neighborhood and has a free community storage refrigerator in front of the restaurant. He also keeps the restaurant open from 10 am to 2 am seven days per week since most of the other dining options in the area close much earlier. Additionally, Barranco is working on getting permits to have a spring celebration outside of Wraptor on March 30.
“It’s too early for me to say that I’m going to make it, but that’s the plan,” Barranco said. “I want to serve and support the community. It’s not easy for restaurants to make it but I’m doing everything I can and I love what I do every day. Everything I do here, I do with love.”
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