to have it at a Relais & Chateaux property,

to have it at a Relais & Chateaux property, even though that’s never been done before.”

So chef O’Connell began to plan the menu he would prepare in his own kitchen. “I still thought it was just lunch. Then it became a meeting. Then a three-day event,” he added, flashing the big grin that is so much a part of his every conversation. “It was a real tribute on the part of the French. Everything must be authorized through the Paris headquarters of the Relais & Chateaux, and they supported the idea of showing the American press a fine example of what the Relais & Chateaux is.”

He and partner Reinhardt Lynch are obviously delighted by the acceptance into the fraternity of “masters of hospitality and diplomacy.”

“They had been inspecting us without our knowing it for five years,” Mr. Lynch noted.

“And when they asked us how many of the Relais & Chateaux properties w'e’d visited, we started counting up and discovered we’d been to almost all of them — not because they were members, but because we wanted to experience the food and the unique style,” Mr. O’Connell added.

The innkeepers of the organization regularly visit other members “to see how they’re doing, to keep tabs on each other,” he continued. “So it becomes a close knit family.”

And this is a family that knows how to have a good time. “Each year, the Relais & Chateaux has an international meeting. They’ve been held in Paris, Frankfurt, Stockholm. For three or four days the Association gets together for the most lavish and incredible parties imaginable," Mr. O’Connell said.

And do the new members from Washington, Virginia, attend?

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world!” affirmed Mr. Lynch.

It is serious partying. At last year’s meeting in Germany, for example, festivities got underway with a beer fest the first night, complete with dancers in traditional Bavarian costumes. The second night, a medieval feast served in a monastery ended with all 500 guests

See THE INN. p. 11