September 16, 2025
The Mayflower’s New Bloom
Luke Dowdy is the luxury inn’s talented new chef
By Charles Dubow
Photographs by Ryan Lavine
For many who frequent Litchfield County, the Mayflower Inn & Spa in Washington has a well-earned reputation as one of our most beautiful, not to mention luxurious, properties. Originally opened in 1920, it has become an institution of sorts, a place where for generations both locals and out-of-towners have come to celebrate milestone events; birthdays, weddings, graduations, engagements. But it is also a place where people can roll up to the cozy Tap Room to enjoy a casual meal and a cocktail for no reason at all.
This past summer the owners, Auberge Resorts Collection, brought in a talented new chef who has made dining at the Mayflower better than ever.
Luke Dowdy, 34, is a veteran of both the Thomas Keller Group and Jean-Georges. He also started as the chef of Keswick Hall, a luxury inn in Charlottesville, Va., which taught him about the particular demands associated with serving sophisticated clientele at a high-end hotel. Most recently, he was chef at The Parlour Room Bar and Grill in Midtown Manhattan.
“It was a great place to work, but then a recruiter reached out to me about the Mayflower, and it was too good an opportunity to pass up.” So he packed up his wife and young children, and moved to Litchfield County.
Originally from Virginia, Dowdy got his start cooking in his mother’s restaurant when he was 14, and eventually wound up in Myrtle Beach. “There was one place called Nacho Hippo,” he laughed. “It was a Tex-Mex place. We made all our food from scratch using the best locally sourced ingredients. We could have bought bulk guacamole but ours was so much better. It taught me never to cut corners.”
He also credits the rigor that he learned under Chef Keller. “Everything has to live up to a 3 Michelin Star standard. Make it the best you can. It doesn’t matter what you are cooking, it should all be made to the best of your ability.”
Since arriving at the Mayflower in July, he has already had a positive impact on the menu, which has been streamlined and simplified. One of his new dishes is a basil-infused oven-roasted Maine lobster entrée, served with avocado, heirloom cherry tomatoes, and sweet corn gazpacho. It was a unique and absolutely delicious spin on everyone’s favorite crustacean—fresh, light, and succulent.
Other highlights include the toothsome 12-ounce rib eye, with stewed peppers, tomatoes, and Tap Room butter; the grilled free-range chicken with toasted orzo, black garlic-eggplant purée, and baby zucchini; and the Raven & Boar Heritage Pork Chop (from Columbia County, New York), served with charred lemon, roasted fingerling potato salad, and chicories.
And, at the risk of sounding hopelessly pedestrian, his Mayflower Burger is a triumph. Loaded with American and cheddar cheese, lettuce, heirloom tomato, pickles, red onion, and his signature Tavern Sauce, it was one of the best I’ve ever eaten. Welcome Chef Luke, here’s to the Mayflower’s bright future!
Mayflower Inn & Spa, 118 Woodbury Road, Washington
