Chef Patrick O’Connell, who has cooked for Queen Elizabeth II, Barbra Streisand, and countless other celebrities, helms The Inn at Little Washington. | Gordon Beall After its busiest year on record, chef Patrick O’Connell’s latest act is to just add water. Maintaining three Michelin stars at the opulent Inn at Little Washington in rural Virginia is a never-ending feat for its chef and sole proprietor Patrick O’Connell. Always one to think outside the box, O’Connell just introduced an extravagant “water menu” that gives diners (and nondrinkers) an ultra-rare taste of underground glaciers from around the world. A bottled Canadian iceberg is the priciest pour ($95). His 46-year-old, prix fixe sensation also revives regional recipes as of late, including one starring George Washington’s favorite fruit. And each $388-per-person tasting menu now showcases fresh produce plucked from the Inn’s recently expanded farm. The Pope of American Cuisine opts to live on the Inn’s 24-building campus because its guests, many from all over the world, expect to chat with him at his refined restaurant modeled after a European country retreat. “It’s perfect,” the self-taught chef told Eater. “I eat well.” Last week, O’Connell’s hands-on efforts paid off. Michelin announced that for the sixth consecutive year, the Inn kept its rarefied three stars (“exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey”), cementing its elite status as the lone D.C.-area restaurant with the rating. The Inn at Little Washington/Facebook Chef Patrick O’Connell celebrates continuously being awarded three Michelin stars with the whole team at the Inn at Little Washington. Days after the lavish ceremony, Eater checked in with O’Connell about life at the top. Eater: What are your thoughts on The Inn retaining its three Michelin stars? Patrick O’Connell: There’s always a sense of nervousness leading up to it. We like to say Michelin works in unusual ways and you never can absolutely be sure. You have to re-earn them every year and competition and the world change around you, so you have to be nimble. Whatever you did yesterday is not good enough for today, and you have to keep improving every little way that you can. We’ve tried to resurrect old Virginia regional recipes and give them new life. Any major menu changes to announce? We’ve been perfecting a fabulous vegetarian option and the guests are loving that. Our farmer in residence is supplying us, even at this time of year, with fabulous little baby turnips and gorgeous little radishes, and kale and all our micro greens. And as bizarre as it sounds on the surface, we’re going to have about 25 waters and a water menu. So many people are drinking less or, in our case, needing to make a drive back to the city that they may wish to limit their alcohol consumption. We can now create a paired water menu with our menu. These waters are so unique. Some are from underground glaciers that are 3,000 years old. They’ve never been in contact with the air. The varieties, tastes, and textures of these waters are absolutely fascinating. The Inn at Little Washington The Inn at Little Washington’s new water menu pours H2O from multiple sources. How have you tried to improve? We’ve purchased 11 acres of farm property just outside the town. And in the spring there, we’re raising pawpaw, a fruit that was a favorite of George Washington’s. We’ve tried to resurrect old Virginia regional recipes and give them new life. So we do a little palate cleanser with pawpaw and we make it into a posset, which is naturally a little thickened, like a pana cotta, and we give a shot glass of that and a little card that explains how George Washington used it, with the idea that people should have a strong sense of place wherever they go and learn something. Inn at Little Washington Prior to opening the restaurant in 1978, chef Patrick O’Connell traveled to Michelin-starred properties in France for inspiration. How rare is it to maintain three Michelin stars for six consecutive years? It’s an all-consuming endeavor. When you go to a three-star restaurant in Europe, part of the excitement is knowing that the chef is in the house and saying hello or taking a picture. The first challenge is to understand that that is the expectation — you can’t go to a movie. So we close our three-star restaurant on Monday and Tuesday nights. It gives me a day off usually, or half a day off during the week. Getting back to the Michelin ceremony, it looked like you and fellow three-starred chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernadin were having a blast onstage. Sometimes it takes an event like a Michelin thing to connect with our friends and colleagues. It’s a big, big family reunion feeling. Eric and I were sharing that great sense of relief that we had; I think his words were, “survived another year with the third star.” Looking back at the pandemic when the Inn made headlines for installing mannequins in empty seats, how has demand changed? We are enjoying the busiest year in our history and the singularity of being the only Michelin three-star restaurant south of New York has contributed to that. It also has attracted an Asian clientele traveling specifically for three-star destination restaurants. It has helped Washington as a culinary destination also, because if you’re coming from the West Coast or Asia on a culinary tour, you’re also going to the one and two-star restaurants in Washington. My joy each day is mentoring the wonderful young people who gravitate here to work here. What keeps you going? We’re still having fun, and every day is exciting. I sign every memo to the team with “Onward and Upward.” They understand that we have not arrived yet. In fact, we will never arrive. We’re continually trying to inch forward and upward. Many people would say that with three Michelin stars and other prestigious accolades that you have arrived. It can all come crashing down if one guest fails to have a life-changing experience here. And sustaining that takes an incredible commitment from every member of the team. You have to be on, regardless of how you feel or what’s happening in your life. You have to rise above your humanness and become superhuman. How do you keep going? It’s an addiction. It’s a high, it’s like a runner’s high. You rise to the occasion. You have moments and weeks of doubt, and then the curtain opens and you go on like your life depends on it. Because it does. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.