774 Boylston St.
Boston, MA 02199
617-262-3023
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.
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At the head of the L'Espalier pastry team, Chef Jiho Kim guarantees that every meal ends on a high note with one of his stunningly arranged desserts.
A Seoul, Korea native, Kim has been fascinated with the culinary arts since a young age. He pursued his passion at the Kyung Ju Hotel School in his home city, completing two intense years of training to receive the Korean National Culinary Certification. His fervor for the sweeter side of cuisine, however, led him to earn an additional specialized certification in chocolate, confectionary, cakes, patisserie, and show pieces. He has also studied with some of the master artisans in his field known as MOF Chefs or Meilleur Ouvrier de France over the course of his fifteen years in the business.
Kim began his professional career at the five-star Renaissance Hotel in Seoul, where he spent more than ten years as pastry chef. During this time there, he sharpened his skills while leading a team of more than twenty chefs to produce large scale banquet and fine dining pastry cuisine. It was his refined talent in pastry arts that earned him a spot to compete on individual and team levels for the hotel creating grand chocolate and sugar showpieces.
A relocation to the United States propelled his career and brought him to L'Espalier in less than two years. His US pastry career launched at Sandrine's Bistro in Boston, followed by a year at Viridian Restaurant in Washington D.C. At Washington's newest French American fine dining restaurant, he was able to take his creativity to the next level, personally designing and producing a spectacular dessert menu.
He returned to Boston in 2006 and now adds a harmonious layer to the existing group at L'Espalier. Kim has been able to create many small masterpieces in the L'Espalier kitchen, and is always evolving his brilliant techniques and menus. He currently lives in Quincy, MA with his lovely wife Yoon.
