FREEDOM, Maine — Over the years, 207 has done a lot of stories on restaurants in Maine. The range is extraordinary - from donut shops to elegant inns where wine and dinner for two can run a thousand dollars.
So we have some authority when we say there is no other restaurant in Maine like The Lost Kitchen in the town of Freedom.
Its set in a renovated grist mill an hour and a half from Portland. And this April, they booked every reservation for the 2017 season in a matter of hours.
Erin French is the owner and chef. Her first job was in her parents' diner. She tried to get away from food but always found herself coming back to it.
She created a pop-up restaurant in her apartment and lost that in a nasty divorce. She moved back home with her parents, found an Airstream trailer and gutted that and started her pop-up again.
Then the old grist mill - which she had walked by on her way to Girl Scout meetings as a kid - was renovated. And now in the town of Freedom, with a population of 700, under the direction of an owner and chef who has always cooked but has no formal training, you can find The Lost Kitchen.