L'Espalier

Often credited with being the first independently owned restaurant to bring haute cuisine to Boston, L'Espalier opened on Boylston Street in 1978, moved to a historic Back Bay townhouse in 1982, and returned to Boylston Street in 2008 where it currently resides adjacent to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Throughout the relocations, the menu of sophisticated and modern New England-French cuisine, with an emphasis on artisanal and New England ingredients, continues to dazzle.

Chef-owner Frank McClelland, who purchased the restaurant in 1988, has racked up an impressive list of honors including the distinction of having been the first restaurant in New England to receive four hard-earned stars from the Boston Globe. Since 1998 L'Espalier has remained the only independent restaurant in New England to receive Five Diamonds from AAA.