Team From James Beard Award-Winning Maison Premiere to Open a Manhattan Bar

The team behind Maison Premiere, the New Orleans-themed cocktail bar known for its absinthe, oysters, and charming backyard, is opening a Manhattan venture. The new bar, whose name is still in the works, is set to debut at Rivington Street, between Essex and Allen streets, on the Lower East Side, by summer 2023. No additional details were available at the time of publishing.

The Manhattan project will be a cocktail lounge that will “recall the stylized glamour found in the discos and clubs of the 1980s, echoing with the influence of Grace Jones, SAMO, Halston, and BIBA,” a representative tells Eater.

The space is designed by Studio Tre (from Whitley Esteban, alum of hospitality interior design studio Roman & Williams), that also was behind the design of Chocobar Cortés in the Bronx.

Cocktails will be the focus here, with no food on the docket at the moment.

Maison Premiere first opened in 2011, with a positive early review from Pete Wells. By 2015, co-owners Joshua Boissy, Krystof Zizka, and managing partner William Elliott opened a follow-up restaurant, Sauvage (now closed). In 2016, Maison Premiere took home the James Beard Award for “outstanding bar program,” after being a two-time nominee. Two years later, the team was running the Golden Hour, a seasonal restaurant inside the Standard Hotel’s garden.

In 2019, both Maison Premiere and Sauvage filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and Sauvage subsequently closed. Maison Premiere has continued on as one of Williamsburg’s most popular bars.