The Lost Kitchen Freedom, Maine
The Lost Kitchen
In a little town (not too far from where we grew up) Freedom, Maine, sits a beautiful old gristmill that has been transformed into a beautiful, rustic and magical restaurant run by Chef, Erin French (born and raised Mainer) and an almost entirely female crew of friends, who are also local farmers in the area. Erin’s mother runs the wine cellar below. Every evening she has multiple choices of wine to pair with the meal. Freedom has liquor laws where you can not serve alcohol, hence the BYOB and shop below.
People from all over the world have found their way to eat and experience The Lost Kitchen. How do you make reservations you ask? The past two years, the reservation process has gone from trying to get through on their phone line to an old school- fill out a 5X5 index card with your: Name, Address, Phone #, Email and of course a sweet message for the TLK team to read. The window of sending this simplistic card is from April 1- April 10th. The restaurant is open from May to until the New Year, 4 days a week. The first year they received over 20,000 card!! So i felt incredibly lucky to have mine chosen last year and receive a call from Erin French to make a reservation!
Now you ask, how does one with Celiac handle this special dining experience? Erin was so gracious, lovely and truly an amazing chef. Her creativity and use of local foods from farms in the area is inspirational to a home chef like myself. A week prior to our reservation, someone from TLK calls to confirm and ask about dietary restrictions and allergies. While dining, any course that was not gluten free, she made mine without, such as a “deconstructed crab cake” that was not fried, and it was to die for! Almost everything else, naturally, was gluten free.
If i could sum up in a few words the experience of dining here (because it truly leaves you speechless),
“It’s magical in every bite.” I cannot wait to return if I am so lucky!
Her cookbook can be purchased here and instructions how to submit reservations and the process. FIND THE LOST KITCHEN
