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GRAFTON - After nearly a decade of service and seafood, Grafton Oyster Bar owner Brad Hagen said business is still booming at one of the only floating restaurants in the state of Illinois.
“The Oyster Bar’s doing wonderful - it’s busy like the rest of Grafton right now,” he said, noting an uptick in tourism in recent years.
“Grafton’s always been a destination place on the weekends, but it seems like over the past few years, we’ve just continued to get more and more tourism coming through our town,” he added. “Our community, the Chamber of Commerce, they all work so hard to promote that tourism, and it’s really paid off for us.”
Featuring a wide-ranging menu of seafood specialties, sandwiches, salads, and a drink menu with beer, wine, and cocktails, the Oyster Bar offers something for everyone.
“I’m big on the seafood part of it - I really like the char-grilled oysters,” Hagen said. “Crawfish enchiladas are a big hit, popular with a lot of people. A lot of different variations of tacos - and then obviously, we’re Cajun and Creole, that’s our background - crawfish etouffee, or you can get a taste of all!”
Before founding the Grafton Oyster Bar, Hagen served for 10 years as the Executive Chef at the Broadway Oyster Bar in St. Louis. He had family in the area north of Grafton and wanted to bring his family, and an Oyster Bar location, back to his home region of Grafton.
With the blessing of former Broadway Oyster Bar owner John Johnson, Hagen’s dream became a reality about nine years ago, when he opened the Oyster Bar’s second location in Grafton.
Coming up on their ninth summer in business, the Grafton Oyster Bar has since cemented itself among locals as a staple establishment in the region. As the bar and restaurant has stayed afloat through a pandemic and more, Hagen also commended the resiliency and support of Grafton area residents.
“Grafton’s really resilient, I tell you,” Hagen said. “We do a lot of different festivals throughout the year here in Grafton. We alway have such a great turnout in support from our community, and it means a lot to us.”
One of the many factors in helping the Oyster Bar flourish has been the support not only from customers, but also the surrounding Grafton business community.
“This community, they have a lot of great business owners here, and we all work well together - and that’s what really makes a difference for us,” he said. “We are a driven community, focused on building our businesses and building the town of Grafton.”
For more information and updates on everything happening at the Grafton Oyster Bar, visit their Facebook page or website at graftonoysterbar.com. Get more insights from Hagen in the full interview at the top of this story or on Riverbender.com/video.
