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Haute cuisine in a tiny town


Patrick O’Connell celebrates the 40th the Inn at Little Washington


anniversary of


Patrick O’Connell, in a trademark Dalmatian spotted apron, assists a member of the


culinary staff in the Inn’s celebrated kitchen.


A by Gary Robertson


n electric fry pan purchased at a yard sale for $1.89. A wood-burning cook stove.


An unheated farmhouse with a big garden bought on time with a $48-a-month mortgage. A trove of old French cookbooks borrowed from a local library. A few dollars in the bank from working in restau- rants, starting at age 15. Out of those simple begin-


nings — and the later conversion of an abondoned garage — Patrick O’Connell, a self-taught chef, has forged an internationally acclaimed restaurant and lodging. Each year, the Inn at Little


Washington draws throngs of visi- tors from around the globe to Wash- ington, Va., a tiny town in the foot- hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. With a population of less than 150, there’s no stoplight. It’s a place where locals say that on Main Street you’re as likely to see a John Deere tractor as a limousine, or nattily dressed wait staff balancing dinner trays on their way to a guest’s room. A long list of luminaries have


stayed at the Inn, including baseball great Cal Ripken, former Vice Presi- dent Al Gore, actors Robert Duvall, Warren Beatty and his wife, Annette Bening, and many of the Supreme Court justices, to name a few.


38 MAY 2018 Photos courtesy The Inn at Little Washington


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