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)