Drago's Seafood Restaurant

Restaurateur of the Year

CVITANOVICH, TOMMY Restaurant: Croatian Restaurateur, Tommy Cvitanovich, son of Drago and Klara was named Restaurateur of the Year for 2001 by the Louisiana Restaurant Association. New Orleans is a mecca of fine dining and home of the world's most fanious restaurants. It has the second largest Restaurant Association in the USA. Drago's Seafood Restaurant was opened by Drago and Klara Cvitanovich 32 years ago and very soon became one of the finest seafood restaurants. Drago's is famous for serving the best oysters anywhere. Oysters are a Croatian tradition in Louisiana. Croatian Fisherman have been the best oyster cultivators for over 130 years. Because of this connection with Croatian fisherman it is not a surprise that Drago's has the best oysters around. Drago's signature dish is Charbroiled Oysters, which is Tommy's brainchild. It has put Drago's --on Travel and Leisure, September 1996 list of the World's Best Restaurants. It is a great honor for all Croatians in Louisiana that Tommy excelled: to be named the best. Louisiana's Governor, Mike Foster, appointed Tommy to the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board in the year 2000. He is working very hard in his business and also in seafood industry for advancement for all. He is a director on Louisiana Restaurant Association State Board. He is hundred percent Croatian American, born in Vancouver B.C. Canada to Croatian immigrants. With his parents and brother he immigrated to the United States to New Orleans at the age of three. He speaks Croatian and has Croatian and American passports. Tommy has kept Croatia near his heart all his life. He has visited Dalmatian Coast multiple times. During the war he assisted in collecting and shipping over one hundred containers of relief supplies to Croatia. Last summer he took his wife and four children to Croatia to visit his grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. He plans to visit Croatia again this summer. Tommy, congratulation and thanks for putting Drago's and Croatians on the culinary map of the United States! (CAT 2002)