To celebrate the last birthday of her 3rd decade, I took Melody to L’Espalier, where the 6-course Spring Degustation lunch menu sent her into dreamy-eyed contentment. The meal began with an amuse bouche: a duo of spring radish soup with sherry vinegar mignonette and Skip’s Island Creek oyster shooter topped with Italian caviar. The oyster was fresh and briny, but the soup was a tad sour. Next came a “B.L.T.” for her (lobster salad, tomato, smoked bacon and avocado butter on toast) and a parsnip and cepe (tasty, earthy mushrooms) flan with balsamic caramel for me. This was followed by her pan-seared skate wing on Chantenay carrot puree and my Ricotta and spinach ravioli in a sweet onion broth. Compared to my only other experience with skate wings in Paris, which was rather uninspiring, this chef’s take on it took the fish to a whole new level. The 3rd course was a rare but salty grilled hanger steak with pommes frites and a dreamy mushroom risotto with asparagus. Melody then went into raptures over the cheese plate, which included the Lakes Edge goat’s milk cheese from Vermont (mild but yummy), Pecorino Ginepro from Italy (salty but tasty around the balsalmic and juniper berry-rubbed edges), and Big Woods Blue (in your face with a spicy kick). These were paired with condiments of preserved plums, pine nuts in honey, and golden raisins in liqueur. Dessert was a trio of hazelnut praline cake, buttermilk lemon zest panna cotta with blueberry compote, and chocolate decadence cake with chantilly cream and raspberry. The decadence cake was so out-of-control intense, finishing the thing felt like a battle against chocolatiness itself. Luckily, some Earl Grey soothed our palates. Definite recommendations: the cepe flan, the skate, the risotto, and the panna cotta. This will probably be our last time at L’Espalier in its current location in Back Bay – the restaurant is moving to its new digs in the Mandarin Oriental in July. Although I’m sure they’ll enjoy their new home, we’ll surely miss the character of the original space.