L'Espalier's design challenge: How to be modern yet cozy

The new L'Espalier interior and decor is being designed in a more modern style but each room will contain an element that evokes the charming former location. (Handout photo)

L'Espalier chef and proprietor Frank McClelland knows people think the heat of the kitchen may be affecting more than his roasted rabbit and grilled hanger steak. On a recent muggy afternoon, he surveys what will soon be the new L'Espalier in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Boylston Street. It's a sprawling, blank canvas that - at least at the moment - feels nothing like the cherished L'Espalier that's been operating out of a Back Bay townhouse since 1982.

McClelland's sanity has been called into question by family members and friends because he is moving L'Espalier out of the charming, petite location where it has flourished, and into a newly constructed hotel. He knows that the Celeste Cooper-designed space that L'Espalier has occupied is an important part of his business, and the thought of moving to Boylston Street could be considered as shameful as tinkering with the potato leek soup recipe.

"I've always been a risk taker," say McClelland, who won the 2007 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Northeast Chef. "Everyone thought I was crazy when they heard about this. But I'm starting to win them over."

McClelland's French cooking will not change when L'Espalier opens in the Mandarin late next month. What will change is the approach to the restaurant's interior and decor. Working with Tribeca-based designer/architect Martin Vahtra, McClelland wants the new space to evoke the three rooms of the current L'Espalier, but from a modern point of view.

The challenge that McClelland and Vahtra face is translating the charm and quirkiness of the 120-year-old, 3,000-square-foot Back Bay townhouse, into a 6,000-square-foot area.

"This project is about the old and the new coming together," Vahtra says. "What people remember from L'Espalier are things like the pocket doors, the moldings, and the residential feeling of the restaurant. You're in a townhouse, and it feels like someone has invited you over for dinner. We wanted to keep that feeling as much as possible."

Vahtra, who has designed restaurants for Wolfgang Puck and retail stores for Nicole Miller, has taken the three rooms of L'Espalier and reimagined them on a grander, contemporary scale, and added a casual lounge. Patrons will come off a glass elevator into the salon, a room that will have the feel of a home lounge with club chairs, sofas, and a butler. The butler replaces a bartender, and will serve champagne and scotch.

The main restaurant contains a corner room, an area known as the crystal room, which is formed of glass walls that double as coolers for wine and champagne, and a library. Each room contains an element that evokes the old L'Espalier, such as the non-working fireplace in the library, or the moldings in the corner dining room.

"Frank wanted something new, but you can't totally toss out the old," Vahtra says. "One of the things that people like about the townhouse is that close, huddled feeling. It's a little bit like a maze. Obviously this isn't going to be a maze, but we wanted to maintain the energy of that. So that's why we've created these separate areas."

Vahtra chose a neutral palette accented with warm browns and sage greens. It was important that the surroundings not upstage McClelland's cooking. McClelland hopes the new look will appeal to customers who thought the townhouse was too cramped, or too stuffy.

Perhaps the biggest change that diners will notice, aside from the modern decor, is the end of a L'Espalier tradition: A line for the restroom. The new location has twice as many.

"I don't know anyone who's eaten at L'Espalier who didn't wait in line for the restroom," McClelland says. "And if they didn't wait, they didn't eat at L'Espalier."

Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com.