Restaurant Review: L’Espalier, Boston

For more than 25 years, a clientele of dedicated food and wine enthusiasts have ascended the creaky staircase of an 1886 Gloucester Street brownstone in Boston’s Back Bay to celebrate the milestones of their lives with chef Frank McClelland of L’Espalier. Now the much-anticipated opening of the Mandarin Oriental hotel at the Prudential Center on Boylston Street in October heralds a new era for McClelland’s elegant French cuisine. The hotel’s retail space provides a new home for L’Espalier and a third site for McClelland’s Sel de la Terre restaurants (in addition to his Boston waterfront and Natick establishments).

“The biggest change is the space in the kitchen — we have elbow room,” McClelland says of L’Espalier’s new setting. “We can make things we could only dream about before.” Sel de la Terre is a separate entity and will serve casual Provencal French cuisine under the direction of longtime master Louis “Iron Chef” DiBiccari. Inside the Mandarin proper, chef Nicolas Boutin will create Asian-inspired dishes at Asana, the hotel’s signature restaurant.

Mandarin Oriental Boston
800 Boylston St.
Boston
617-531-0888
mandarinoriental.com/boston

For six recipes from chef Frank McClelland, go to: Chef McLelland Digs Local Ingredients.

And for more on food and entertaining, check out Annie’s blog, “Eating New England” at: YankeeMagazine.com/blogs