Tigre, the new cocktail lounge from Premiere Enterprises — the team behind the award-winning oyster and cocktail bar Maison Premiere — opens in the heart of the Lower East Side. Tigre melds the storied history of the past with the new refreshed energy of the Lower East Side, bringing sophistication and refinement in drink, sound and ambiance. Hidden behind an original graffiti-worn door, Tigre encapsulates the duality of the Lower East Side, with one foot in the past, and another in the future, all underscored by a studied understanding of contemporary style. While previous projects have referenced narratives related to time and place — such as New Orleans drinking culture and classic cocktails at Maison Premiere, and the zeitgeist of neo-bistros and natural wine with Sauvage — Tigre transports guests to the luxe residences and lounges of the past, with a menu of sophisticated cocktails that channel a well-traveled palate and an exploration of obscure but enlightening spirits that are not commonplace in the American lexicon.

Tigre’s cocktail menu is an odyssey of flavors, embodying the belief that authentic luxury is unveiled through the discoveries made while traveling, elevating and broadening one’s palate. Classic cocktails are given a rarefied treatment, highlighting the best distillers and producers from around the globe. Spirits categories include regionalized styles, as well as progressive, startup distilleries doing unusual expressions with a spotlight on gentle preparations, often combining these unique spirits with fresh fruits hailing from the same region. 

The team at Premiere Enterprises has grown from humble beginnings to becoming major players in both the craft cocktail revival and the bar and restaurant renaissance. Co-founders Joshua Boissy and Krystof Zizka have received numerous accolades over the years for Maison Premiere, including Esquire’s Best Bar in America, a James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Program, and ranking year after year in the prestigious World’s 50 Best Bars list. Additionally, in Spring 2023, they released their first ever cocktail tome, The Maison Premiere Almanac, which garnered much attention and praise. For Tigre, Boissy and Zizka have again teamed up with William Elliott, long-time Bar Director of Maison Premiere, who will serve as Bar Director at Tigre to head up the beverage program.

The team enlisted architect and design firm Studio Tre, co-founded by Roman and Williams alum Whitley Esteban and Ernesto Gloria, to bring Tigre to life and nail the essence of the ‘refined meeting the raw’ in a way that New Yorkers can appreciate. This embrace of stylistic contrast is woven throughout the entire design, melding masculine and feminine in equal measure, reverent to both traditional and modern, and melding old with new. Guests are greeted by a hall of golden mirrors lined in dark oak paneling with industrial chainmail curtains, leading into the main room with walls furnished in gold ultrasuede (a throwback to Halston) and plush jacquard velvet banquettes with emblematic tiger embroidery. An eight-person horseshoe-shaped bar is the focal point, touting a “champagne island” in the middle of the bar backlit by a custom geometric chandelier. Caramel-hued velvet snakes its way down the curvilinear banquettes, with rich earthen chocolate leather seats inviting guests to relax in the seductive space, where music is felt in true hi-fidelity courtesy of the custom Ojas sound system. The back offers a more secluded space for intimate conversations, adorned with animal print rugs and sultry retro art with original works by Jean-Paul Goude, the French artist and photographer best known for collaborating with Grace Jones. Demure bar guests who prefer to linger on the room’s edges can cozy up on Tigre’s unique plush padded resting rails along the walls, offering wallflowers the perfect spot to people-watch. The mirrored ceiling creates a kaleidoscopic effect, refracting back rich jewel tones and the geologically-inspired palette of the aubergine rug and copper tables throughout the bar.