Though a spokesman for the popular New Orleans eatery stresses a final agreement has yet to be inked, Drago’s Seafood is looking to bring a restaurant to Baton Rouge and has verbally expressed interest in a recently sold Highland Road site.
“A Baton Rouge location is in the not too distant future,” says Ron St. Pierre of the Valence marketing firm, which represents Drago’s. “There’s nothing that has been finalized, but Baton Rouge is a priority market for Drago’s.”
As first reported by Daily Report columnist Tom Cook on Tuesday, Drago’s is considering building a Baton Rouge location on a roughly 3.2-acre site on Highland Road in front of the Country Club of Louisiana that has been sold to a New Orleans investor for $2.85 million.
St. Pierre confirms Drago’s is in “the very early stages of negotiations” to secure an agreement for a restaurant at the Highland Road spot, adding Drago’s currently is not considering any other sites in Baton Rouge.
“Drago’s has verbally expressed interest in that project. … We’re excited and hopeful that it will come to fruition,” he says. “There’s always been a desire for Drago’s to be in Baton Rouge, but it has to be in the right place and the timing has to be right.”
Meanwhile, St. Pierre says Drago’s will be announcing details on its first Lafayette location in the coming weeks. Drago’s opened its first restaurant outside the New Orleans area late last year, inside a Hilton hotel in Jackson, Mississippi. The original Drago’s is in Metairie, and the restaurant has another a location inside the Hilton Riverside on Poydras Street in New Orleans.
—Steve Sanoski
