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ORAL HISTORY
Vance Vaucresson
Since 1899 the Vaucressons have been mainstays of the meat business in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward. Robert Levinsky Vaucresson was a butcher. His son Robert “Sonny” Vaucresson made sausage his specialty. Sonny was one of the first cooks of Creole heritage to have a restaurant on Bourbon Street. From 1966 to 1974 he operated Vaucresson’s Café Creole, where the filé gumbo was famed. Today, Vance Vaucresson carries on the tradition with Vaucresson Sausage Company. Restaurants throughout New Orleans swear by Vance’s smoked sausage, andouille, and chaurice for their gumbos. Many of his customers were his father’s customers. For more than a century the Vaucressons have held on to their Creole roots and shared them with their community.
