In 2018, The Inn at Little Washington became the first and only restaurant in the Washington, DC, region to receive three Michelin stars, arguably the world's highest rating in the fine dining restaurant industry. Michelin stars are awarded by the Paris-based guidebook based on anonymous reviews surrounding the atmosphere, cuisine, and entire dining experience of a restaurant. The 2018 guidebook listed 104 restaurants in the world holding the coveted three Michelin stars. Of those restaurants, only 14 were located in the United States, with a majority located in major metro areas such as New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. The Inn at Little Washington appears to fit the positioning as a fine dining restaurant located in one of the United States’ most important and influential cities.

Yet The Inn (as locals and industry insiders often refer to it) is not located in Washington, DC, or even in one of the affluent suburbs of Virginia or Maryland. The Michelin Guide for the region provides many helpful maps for patrons to use to find highly rated restaurants. For each restaurant, the map that has the location of the restaurant is noted with the entry to make it easier to find your way to a table. However, for The Inn, the map notation is “N/A” because you literally must travel off the guide's maps, down Interstate 66, then traverse country highways for another 40 miles to reach it (Michelin, 2020). As the sprawl of suburbs fades into farms and wineries, travelers will enter Rappahannock County, one of the least populated counties in Virginia, and find The Inn at the center of the county seat, Washington, noted as “the first of them all” after being planned by a young George Washington in 1749. Similar to when The Inn opened in 1978, cosmopolitan travelers could easily describe it as existing in the middle of nowhere. Despite its fairly remote locale, however, people from around the world come to dine at The Inn, including visiting dignitaries, entertainers, and culinary celebrities. Culinary royalty Julia Child dined at The Inn, and when Queen Elizabeth II visited Virginia for the 400-year anniversary of Jamestown and the founding of the Virginia Colony in 2007, Patrick O’Connell, the chef, founder, and owner of The Inn, prepared a meal with wine pairings, the entire meal sourced from Virginia farms, purveyors, and wineries (BBV, 2007).