L'Espalier

At the end of a business trip, the rest of the team flew home and my flight was the next morning allowing me to visit one of my favorite fine dining locations in Boston. I'd dined here two times before and had great experiences, but on this night, I had the opportunity to book the Chef's Table to enjoy the food and watch the action.

I arrived a couple minutes early and used the opportunity to have a glass of champagne in the salon.

View out from the salon onto the street.

In the salon they had their famous cheese cart, since this wasn't visible in the kitchen, I wanted to grab a picture. They feature amazing cheeses and feature great producers.

After finishing my glass of bubbly, I was escorted to the chef's table in the kitchen. A great perch and greeted by the chef. Since all I had the next day was a flight, I decided to go with the full wine pairing as well.

Great views of the action.

Fish and poultry prep station

Sauces mmmm

Starting with a house made gin and tonic, it was good but more English than Spanish in style. I could appreciate it, but not as much my personal style.

Warm loaf of bread with fresh Vermont butter. Trio of canapés that were perfect to get the palate going.

The Petitjean-Pienne was a nice crisp sparkling wine that had an underlying toasty note, good way to kick the meal off.

Watching as a beautiful example of the roast duck for two they're famous for came out of the oven. Sadly not part of this meal, but I'll have to come back to try it.

Some lavender sprinkled on top.

A beautiful sous vide egg yolk with caviar and garnishes. How could this not be fantastic?!

A lovely Italian rose was perfect for the next course, it was dry style but with great strawberry, cherries and almond flavors.

A nice refreshing course with carved melon, beet sorbet, creme fraiche and apricot compote.

For the next course, a sherry. While of course funky as sherry's are, it would be a great pairing.

An absolutely amazing warm oysters and sabayon, had a reminiscence of Thomas Keller's oysters and pearls. The sherry paired beautifully with it.

A nice crisp white Burgundy for the following course.

Being in New England, a perfectly butter poached lobster with mandarin slice and more lobster wrapped in cucumber. Very nice preparation.

At this point it was time for more bread and they had fantastic cheesy bread balls, similar to the type you'd get in a Brazilian steakhouse.

The Bachelet was a great first red and had nice pepper and cherry flavors with an underlying earthiness. Despite being young, I really enjoyed it.

Always good when a presentation of fresh truffles are brought out for the next course.

Probably what turned out to be my favorite dish of the night with a cannelloni with duck and a fantastic sauces with fresh grated truffles. Paired with the wine, a sensational course.

Back to a white and the Domaine Des Baumard was a nice Loire valley white with a prominent apple note.

Up next quail with a consomme that was infused with apple, very tasty.

Then a cedar plank and burned white fish wrapped in a thin sheet and over an almond crunch. Also served alongside a cider based boba.

Gevrey-Chambertin was solid as always.

The roast duck was very tasty, but clearly not their lavender duck I was wishing it was.

A nice 2010 Chateau d'Arsac Margaux was a great young example with a medium-full body, rich fruit and smooth palate.

A fantastic roast lamb chop, one of the best I've ever had. The Margaux was the perfect pairing!

Then a great refreshing palate cleanser of mango sorbet with a sort of pop-over.

A new one for me was a Bera Piedmontese dessert wine. It wasn't overly sweet and had an acidic backbone which helped cut through the rich dessert.

The chocolate souffle with textbook perfect.

A survey of the wine damage for the night, needless to say it was a great evening.

Some matcha macarons that I had no room for and had packed to go.

And a refreshing ice palate cleanser served in an oyster shell to cap off the meal.

L'Espalier is fantastic as always, more classic in style, but more and more modern cooking techniques being incorporated. If you find yourself in Boston, I'd highly recommend trying to grab a reservation.