George Washington slept here, or at least in the vicinity. But the reason to go to the Inn at Little Washington is to eat one of the best meals in the country. In a still-teeny-tiny town that was mapped by a young surveyor named George Washington in 1749, the inn does of course have lodgings ($460 and up), but it's an easy drive from "Big Washington," not quite 70 miles to the east.
When it opened on the site of a former gas station in 1978, the closest restaurant was 40 miles away. Before long, the $4.95 dinners got fancier and tastier. The Inn at Little Washington was the first establishment to be 5-star Mobil and 5-Diamond AAA designations.
Today, Patrick O'Connell turns out stunning, thrilling dishes using the freshest local ingredients, from seasonal vegetables to country ham. Our meal started with, technically, our names printed on the menu, but the food included a crabcake "sandwich" bounded by fried green tomatoes with a tomato vinaigrette and prawns with charred onions and mango mint salsa.
It got better from there, capped by a ridiculously cool cheese cart: Faira, a wooden cow on wheels with a bountiful array of selections in a tray on her back.
The late, great New York Times food writer Craig Claiborne called this "the most magnificent inn I've ever seen, in this country or Europe, where I had the most fantastic meal of my life." No argument here.
