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L'Espalier Restaurant Review

Mandarin Oriental, Boston
774 Boylston St. (Fairfield St.) Send to Phone
BostonMA 02199
617-262-3023 | Make Restaurant Reservations | Menu
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Frank McClelland offers creative New American-French cuisine in stylish environs. L'Espalier Restaurant is one of our 2012 | Top 10 Boston Food Rating Restaurants | Top 10 Boston French Restaurants | Top 10 Boston Wine List Restaurants | Top 10 Boston Special Occasion Restaurants | Top 10 Boston Business Restaurants |  See photos of L'Espalier restaurant at GAYOT.com's photo gallery.

Cuisine

Open

Lunch & Dinner daily, Afternoon Tea Sat.-Sun.

Features

  • Private room(s)
  • Full bar
  • Reservations suggested
  • Valet parking for a fee (Mandarin Oriental entrance at lunch & restaurant entrance at dinner)
  • Jackets & ties suggested

Wine

Great Wine List

* Click here for rating key

Dining room at L'Espalier, Boston, MAChef/proprietor Frank McClelland’s French-inspired New American cuisine is exquisitely built from impeccable local ingredients. Patrons choose from seasonal dégustation and chef’s tasting menus along with à la carte lunches and a prix-fixe dinner option at eye-popping prices, though few would challenge their value given the parade of topnotch meat, fish, shellfish and produce embellished with luxury flourishes like foie gras, all beautifully plated. (Vegetarian gourmands can dine exceptionally well here.) First courses like rabbit consommé with prosciutto-wrapped loin, roasted kidney and black garlic might precede mains ranging from roasted veal tenderloin paired with mushroom-Madeira ragoût and hay-infused milk to Casco Bay lobster with Mandarin orange, braised fennel, Savoy cabbage and saffron-star anise emulsion. Dinner may also be enjoyed at the Chef’s table inside the kitchen. Anything from the cheese cart, meanwhile, is sure to delight --- overseen as it is by expert fromager and maître d’ Louis Risoli. Stylishly spare dining areas in austere gray and taupe tones dominate the space, while the book-lined back room provides a library-like oasis. The subtle, highly-polished service doesn’t miss a beat, and a superb wine list rounds out the kind of experience most patrons reserve for big-number birthdays, anniversaries or business deals.

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