Drago's Seafood Restaurant

A Croatian immigrant named Drago Cvitanovich opened a restaurant in Fat City in 1969 and invented the charbroiled oyster. The recipe: butter, garlic, Parmesan, and a screaming hot grill. The dish is now copied across Louisiana. New Orleans was the largest port in the Southern United States throughout the 19th century, built on the labor of exporting cotton and farm products to Europe and New England. The city's wealth came from moving what grew inland out to the world. Drago's belongs to a different tradition — the one that feeds the people who stayed. Fat City, out in Metairie, was never the tourist corridor. The original location is still the flagship. It seats more than 300 and still packs a wait on weekends. A second location opened in the New Orleans Hilton Riverside. The Cvitanovich family continues to operate both. The restaurant is consistently ranked among the best seafood restaurants in the region. Go for the oysters. They come off the grill blistered and smoky, the butter still crackling in the shell. Order a dozen. Then order another dozen.