Acclaimed Williamsburg Oyster Bar Maison Premiere Appears to Have Permanently Closed

Acclaimed Williamsburg oyster bar Maison Premiere appears to have permanently shuttered amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The bar’s website now redirects to an error page, its Instagram account has been shut down, and the phone line appears to have been disconnected.

The bar’s sister restaurant, Sauvage, may also be in trouble. The Greenpoint spot, known for classic French fare including whole grilled trout amandine and steak au poivre, converted into a retail wine shop in mid-March shortly after dine-in service was shut down due to the pandemic. The shop’s retail website is no longer functional and Sauvage last promoted its wines for sale on Instagram in the beginning of May.

Eater has reached out to co-owners Krystof Zizka and Joshua Boissy for more information.

The restaurants were struggling before the pandemic hit. Zizka and Boissy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the restaurants in 2019 in order to restructure large amounts of debt that the business had accumulated. At the time, a spokesperson for the restaurant said that Zizka and Boissy filed for bankruptcy in order to settle an unnamed legal matter. Court documents also showed that Maison Premiere and Sauvage owed millions of dollars in outstanding debt to banks, vendors, and other creditors.

Maison Premiere was open for nearly a decade in Williamsburg, and established itself as one of NYC’s top cocktail bars during that time. The James Beard award-winning spot boasted a New Orleans-influenced menu and decor, selling absinthe cocktails alongside seafood towers. It also featured one of the city’s best raw bars.

French restaurant Sauvage attracted critical acclaim as well after its launch in 2016. Eater critic Robert Sietsema gave it three stars after it debuted and New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells awarded it one star for early blowout dishes like a pig head confit.

NYC has been rocked by over 100 permanent restaurant closures over the past two months as owners struggle to pay rent and other high fixed costs during the pandemic.