[cellphone rings] -I'm gonna do this?
-And pick it up and talk like normal.
-Good morning, Michael. -Good morning, Chef.
-I'm at The Inn at Little Washington
where Chef Patrick O'Connell
is waiting to get a call from the Michelin Guide
to see if he got his third star --
that's the top honor in the restaurant world.
He already has two stars, but he's been waiting
for this his whole life. Let's listen in.
-Uh, yes, I'm seated comfortably.
Um, I'm ready for anything.
-Good.
Of course, last year we were also chose
to continue with your two Michelin stars,
which you and your team were good.
You know the Michelin stars are not lifetime achievement awards,
they have to be won back every single year.
And it is now, this year, my great honor
and pleasure to confirm to you
that you and your team at The Inn at Little Washington
have been awarded your third Michelin star.
-Ohhhh. [laughs]
-You now are joining the ranks
of a little over 100 Michelin three-star restaurants
around the world and 30 countries
where we publish over 20,000 restaurants
in the Michelin Guides around the world.
So congratulations to you and your team.
It's an incredible achievement and one that very,
very few chefs and teams are able to achieve,
and I think it's a great tribute to your talent, your vision,
and your determination to bring fine dining in fine,
fine lodging to the American public.
-Oh, that was beautifully put, Michael.
[laughs]
We can't tell you how honored and thrilled all of us here are.
And I don't think we could have handled it one minute earlier.
This year we were so secretly pleased
that it didn't happen last year.
We needed this incentive to go the final push.
So it's really, really rewarding to see it so well acknowledged.
And I have always felt the Michelin Guide is,
like the Pope, infallible.
[laughter] We couldn't be happier.
There will be dancing in the streets.
-Listen, we'll see you tonight, okay?
-Fantastic.
Thank you so much.
-I'm glad that you guys have it. -Thank you, thank you.
Okay, bye-bye.
-You were talking about how you went to France in 1978,
and now you're here today.
What do you think having that third star would
have meant to your younger self knowing that that was coming?
-Well, there are certain things that appear
totally unrealistic and impossible.
And you generally don't dream about those
if you can't have them.
So in that era, I truly never believed
that Michelin would ever come to America
because it was still an era
where French people in particular
looked down on whatever the cuisine of this country was.
And, of course, we had, as a culture,
a horrible inferiority complex.
And I took that on, and I thought that's not right.
We are entitled to our flavor memories.
And what we grew up with is as legitimate
as what someone from Lyon grew up with.
And instead of being embarrassed by our culinary roots,
we should celebrate them and bring them forward.
So it took me a long time to realize that secretly
that's what I was doing.
We've come a long way.
[laughs] -You've come a long way.
It's really, um -- Look.
Hello! What do you say to him?
-Awww. Mwah!
[laughs] My little buddy.
-Talk to the Michelin Man.
Tell him what you think of him.
-You know, in a culture where there's no --
nothing is sacred and you believe nothing,
it's quite wonderful to still have something credible.
[cheers and applause]