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ORAL HISTORY
Armand Olivier Jr. and Armand Olivier III
Five generations of Creole family recipes and tradition inspired Olivier’s Creole Restaurant. Armand Olivier Jr., his wife Cheryl, and their son Armand III began their restaurant in 1979 in New Orleans’ Gentilly neighborhood. There, Cheryl Olivier created a menu of Creole favorites, including a filé gumbo. Regulars began to request an okra gumbo, so Cheryl debuted another family recipe. When Olivier’s Restaurant moved to the French Quarter, Armand III created a gumbo of his own. Armand III’s roux-based Creole gumbo is now the restaurant’s house gumbo. But family tradition and customer’s tastes demand that all three gumbos appear on the menu. The compromise is the Gumbo Sampler, available year-round.
Olivier’s Restaurant closed January 2015.