Those of you who follow our travels, know that we will go to great lengths to dine at an interesting restaurant. Last year, we made dinner reservation and then a plane reservation to Washington State, so that we could dine at The Willows, Lummi Island, Washington. It was worth the plane ride. Recently, we drove to “nowhere land” in Maine.
In Maine, we dined at The Lost Kitchen in Freedom (population 719), which is under the direction of self-taught chef Erin French. She has been to the Beard House in NYC and has a cookbook coming out soon.
The restaurant, located in a restored 1834 gristmill, was 55 minutes (30 miles) from where we were staying in Augusta. Driving to the restaurant, down winding country roads, some without signs, was scenic. Driving home, it was very dark and scary. We were told to keep our bright headlights on because of the number of moose and deer in the area. If we did not have a GPS, getting back to the hotel would have been impossible for us city drivers.
Upon entering Freedom, we were spellbound upon viewing the bucolic scenery; a restored stone gristmill, a waterfall; and a bridge over the lake leading to the restaurant entrance. Because of local laws, wine cannot to be sold, opened or poured in the restaurant. However, you can purchase a bottle in the wine cellar on the bottom floor of The Lost Kitchen, where the menu for the evening is displayed and wines from all over the world are for sale with prices ranging from $14 to $120 with many in the $20 to $30 range. Here, you also meet your fellow diners and can view the water flowing under the mill.
The restaurant has wooden floors, two communal tables, one overlooking the open kitchen, standard wooden tables, some with a view of the waterfall, and beautiful floral arrangements. It was impressive. If you go, we thought the best seats were by the window overlooking the lake or the communal table by the open kitchen.
The five-course menu came with some surprise extra courses. We started with olives, crusty bread, raw butter (stronger in flavor than regular butter with a rich yellow color), white radishes and baby carrots presented on a wooden board. Next was herbed, razor-clam ceviche with crispy crackers. Oysters sitting on a rectangular slate, surrounded by freshly forged moss, reminded us of seaweed and had the taste of spring from the rhubarb and chive mignonette. A beautiful antique plate held a delicate lemony spring salad of thinly sliced, colorful watermelon radishes and daikon with a wedge of basket weave firm ricotta, mint, pea shoots, nasturtium and lemon. We never expected to be wowed by “radishes,” but we were. A spoon of lemon sorbet, served as an intermezzo, was followed by a lamb burger with feta, mustard greens and aioli on a house made roll. Spinach, lemon, buttered croutons, puree of sweet parsnip made from parsnip that had wintered over, rock crab and micro greens added texture and flavor to an extremely fresh-tasting hunk of Spring run halibut. Dessert was a spring parsnip cake, similar to a carrot cake, which was topped with a lightly whipped, salted-caramel cream. More parsnip found its way into parsnip ice cream, which tasted like parsnip and was not to our liking. Although we did not love the ice cream, we gave the chef an A for ingenuity.
Chef Erin told us that she designed this space so customers would feel as if she was having friends over for dinner. We left this most romantic and remote farm-to-table restaurant feeling loved and cared for.
Reservations are hard to come by so plan accordingly.
The Dining Room at The Lost Kitchen.
Olives, bread, raw butter white radishes and baby carrots.
Razor clams ceviche.
Oysters with moss.
Halibut.
Photos courtesy of Lowell Saferstein
The Lost Kitchen
22 Mill Street
Freedom, Maine
201-435-5151
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