[coachlaw]

As the great grandson of a Croatian oysterman, I think he'd be proud. I like oysters any way you've ever heard of. Dad and I still had our own oyster lease until 1999 in the same spot my great grandfather seeded his. Heck, I still have the oyster tongs he made with his own hands back in the '30s.

Drago's restaurant has the best charbroiled oysters I've ever personally tasted. I don't fry oysters anymore because there are so many better things to do with them. Raw is great, and you need horseradish to make a good sauce for them in my opinion. Still, they're great just plain by themselves, sitting on the dock with a bunch you just tonged out of the bayou.

Now for something completely different. I started doing this when I was a kid. We always had a boil going on at the camp. Zatarain's only of course, bags and liquid. Somebody would bring crawfish out, or we'd have crabs or shrimp, along with the requisite corn, potatoes, andouille, mushrooms, boudin, etc. we'd throw in the pot. One day I shucked a bunch of oysters I had tonged out from the dock and I threw them in the top of the pot in a strainer. I let them go for about 5 minutes or so, put them in a bowl and ladled some boil on top of them and let them sit for a bit. Then I strained them and took a bite. AWESOME.

Don't believe me? Try it yourself.

I understand some people don't like them raw because of the consistency, but oysters truly are a gift from God. I remember eating them raw when I when I was only 4 years old.

Here's a pic of the old man, Peter Rozich at his camp, on his shell pile in Bayou Cook circa 1943.