Extracted from A Brooklyn Bar For All Reasons. Buy your copy here.

We’ve stopped being surprised at the ever-expanding number of fancy food purveyors on this formerly grubby stretch in Williamsburg, but Maison Premiere impresses. The décor is a faux-decadent faded elegance, like a set design for a Tennessee Williams play, with a dash of steampunk in place of fusty velvet. The staff’s bow-ties, white shirts and aprons indicate that cocktails are serious business. Specialities are oysters and absinthe, a delectable variety of each. Happy hour is a madhouse, with the underage students and drinking with their fake ids.