THE BIOGRAPHY OF PATRICK O'CONNELL

Patrick O'Connell, a native of Washington, D.C., is a self-taught chef who pioneered a refined, regional American cuisine in the Virginia countryside.  He has been referred to as "the Pope of American Haute Cuisine".  Selecting The Inn at Little Washington as one of the top ten restaurants in the world, Patricia Wells of The International Herald Tribune hails O'Connell as "a rare chef with a sense of near perfect taste, like a musician with perfect pitch."

The Inn at Little Washington was created by Patrick O'Connell and his partner, Reinhardt Lynch in 1978.  It became America's first 5-Star country house hotel and the first establishment in the Mobil Travel Guide's history to ever receive two 5-star awards--for its restaurant and for its accommodations.  The Inn also received AAA's highest accolades: two 5-diamond awards and is rated number one in all categories year after year by the Washington D.C. Zagat Restaurant Survey.  The James Beard Foundation named it Restaurant of the Year in 1993 and named O'Connell Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic Region and most recently honored him with the prestigious Outstanding Chef Award for 2001.  O'Connell was one of the original inductees into "Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America" and is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate Degree in the Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales University.  He is also a guest lecturer at the Culinary Institute of America.

He is the author of the best selling cookbook, The Inn at Little Washington Cookbook, A Consuming Passion.  His second, Patrick O'Connell's Refined American Cuisine was released in the Fall of 2004 and was nominated for an IACP Cookbook Award.  He has appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, the CBS Early Show, the Diane Rehm Show and the Charlie Rose Show and is a frequent guest speaker at The Smithsonian Institution.