I’ve been detouring around road construction recently – and I’m taking another detour today. On the menu is a Michelin 3-star menu.
What’s a Michelin Star? It’s the rating considered the hallmark of fine dining, awarded to restaurants that meet exceptionally high standards of cooking.
The criterion is:
- One star: A very good restaurant in its category.
- Two stars: Excellent cooking, worth a detour.
- Three stars: Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.
I took a special journey indeed—1,584 miles round trip—to dine at the Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Virginia. It is one of the 14, three-Michelin Star restaurants in the U.S. and the only one in Virginia.
It all started in 1889 in a small French town when brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin founded their famous tire company, Michelin Tire. They wanted to help motorists plan their trips, thinking it would boost car and tire sales. So, in 1900, they created a small, red guidebook with information for travelers.
By the 1920s, it included a list of restaurants according to specific categories. The restaurant section gained influence, so the Michelin brothers recruited a team of mystery diners—inspectors as we know them today—to visit and review restaurants anonymously.
The inspectors evaluate the quality of products, mastery of flavor and cooking techniques, the personality of the chef represented in the dining experience, value for money, and consistency between inspectors’ visits.
The guide began awarding One Star ratings in 1926, and in 1936, the rating system expanded to the three-star rating that continues today.
The guide took a hiatus during World War II, although the U.S. government asked the Michelin Corporation for perm ission to reprint the 1939 guide because it contained detailed and up-to-date maps of French cities, which Allied Forces carried with them when they stormed the beaches of Normandy.
At the Inn at Little Washington, they serve two 7-course menus—The Good Earth and The Gastronaut. I had the Gastronaut Menu, and it was personalized with my name on it.
It started with an amuse-bouche, a gift from the chef to start the experience. It was a delightful, tiny cannoli—a fried potato chip stuffed with pimento cheese mousse—and a bite of ahi tuna with a dollop of avocado.
Chilled Blue shrimp with coconut cream and carrot panna cotta perfumed with Espelette and lime followed. Caviar service was also an option.
Mary, our server, presented the colossal white asparagus with Virginia country ham and sauce Mousseline, and while I was still talking about how good that was, the poached Maine lobster with passion fruit, citrus, and ginger cream arrived.
My trio of veal—prosciutto wrapped tenderloin, glazed sweetbreads, and Sicilian ragout—was warm with a rich and creamy sauce. A pepper crusted breast of Long Island duck was also an option.
Then the fun surprise arrived, which was George Washington’s Paw Paw Posset, one of his favorite fruits. The paw paw was served as a cool and creamy mousse with a touch of mint.
And how do you serve the cheese course? On a cart on wheels that is a ceramic replica of a cow, with a cheese tray on top, presented by a gentleman wearing a cheese designed vest.
Finally, decadent desserts, and farewell chocolates in a box—that is a replica of the Inn.
They say their mission is “making ordinary moments become extraordinary.” But the server said they just want to make sure that everything is nice.
It was nice indeed, and worth the journey.
Join me next time to find out what’s On the Menu.
