The intimate, 30-table restaurant with a 14,000-bottle wine cellar has won countless awards — but there’s still some room for a side of humor, according to The Inn at Little Washington restaurant’s chef and owner, the legendary Patrick O'Connell.
A new documentary, "The Inn at Little Washington: A Delicious New Documentary," is set to air this spring on PBS.
O’Connell answered our questions about the restaurant and inn, located just 70 miles west of Alexandria (and well worth the trip).
You show a sense of humor in the new documentary coming out about The Inn at Little Washington. Did it come into play over the years as you built and ran your inn and restaurant?
A good sense of humor is an indispensable trait to have in any high-stress business. It keeps things in perspective. Our guests like to know that we're enjoying what we do. We take our work seriously, but not ourselves.
The Inn at Little Washington
Chef Patrick O'Connell
Can you tell our readers how you decided on the location for the inn, back in the 1970s? What was the process like trying to find a place?
I think everyone has a geographical spot in the universe where they belong. If they find their spot, everything will fall into place. I bought a mountain shack out here when I was 21 and never wanted to leave, so I opened a catering business with a friend using a wood-burning cookstove and an electric frying pan. About six years later, it morphed into the Inn at Little Washington. It has been steadily evolving since 1978. It is still the place where I'm most comfortable and will always call home.
Was it always called The Inn at Little Washington? Were there any other names you considered?
Naming a restaurant or an inn is like naming a child. You consider hundreds of options. We wanted people to understand where we were located and discover this charming little town, so the name says it all.
I think I read somewhere that your staff is trained to gauge the mood of diners when they arrive and they try to elevate the mood if needed. Can you talk a little bit about that philosophy and the training that goes into that?
Most corporate restaurants teach a standardized service philosophy with the idea that every guest must receive exactly the same treatment when in fact guests are very different and may want very different things from a dining experience. Understanding this, we specialize in a 'bespoke' style of service based on 'reading' a guest and intuiting what their needs and expectations may be. After all, a good hairstylist, for example, doesn't give every one of his clients the same look or cut.
Our 'Mood Indicator' is a tool that allows us to zero in and gauge a guest's receptivity or mood based on a scale of one to 10 at the outset of their dinner and track it and elevate it throughout the meal. We all work together to ensure that each guest’s mood rating is elevated to a 9 or above before they depart.
Any advice you would give to someone who is coming to visit the Inn for the first time?
Relax and enjoy yourself.
Is there something that has been on the menu the longest or will never come off?
There are certain dishes that fall into the category of what we call 'enduring classics.' Some of these dishes may have originated on our menu more than 20 years ago and guests will always ask for them. One of the three tasting menus we offer is composed of these enduring classic dishes.
Of all the awards you have won, is there one that stands out and means the most to you?
Both the Michelin three-star award and the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award, which we received just last year, were incredible milestones. Earning three Michelin stars was the dream of a lifetime and the Lifetime Achievement acknowledgment was an overwhelming honor.
Not counting your own restaurant, is there a favorite you have visited anywhere in the world and what did you like most about it?
Early on I was inspired by many of the great country inns of France — particularly Michel Guerard’s Eugenie Les Bain, which is an exquisite destination restaurant in the middle of nowhere in France. Michel Guerard and his late wife, Christine, created a fantasy of exquisite taste.
