The Maine Restaurant That's Virtually Impossible To Score A Reservation At

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No trip to Maine would be complete without dining on lobster, whether in a lobster roll stuffed with chunks of meat or steamed at the dock, fresh from the ocean. But there are many other Pine Tree State food experiences too, like sampling its iconic state soft drink, Moxie, or getting a Big Mac at a one-of-a-kind McDonald's in a Colonial mansion. Maine is home to a much more exclusive culinary experience as well at a restaurant called The Lost Kitchen, where the nearly-impossible-to-get reservations are only available via a postcard lottery.

The Lost Kitchen opened inside an old gristmill in 2014 in rural Freedom, a town of fewer than 750 residents located about 90 minutes from Portland (one of the underrated U.S. food cities you need to visit at least once). The small restaurant was discovered and praised early on, and reservation requests began to flood in, quickly outstripping availability. Not wanting to change the restaurant's intimate size and character, chef and owner Erin French decided to use old-school postcards for reservations. The Freedom native also said on the Magnolia Network's "The Lost Kitchen" that she wanted to help the town's post office branch amid worries that it might be closed.

Hopefuls send in a postcard with their name, address, phone number, and email, and can optionally include a message, often things like poems, personal stories, and drawings. Cards are drawn at random, and the lucky future guests choose from available dates, with up to six people allowed per party. The restaurant begins accepting postcards annually on April 1st for its May-to-October season, and will draw more later if anyone cancels.

The Lost Kitchen serves dinner four nights a week to about 50 people each night in a rustic dining room with an open kitchen and a view of the mill stream. There is only one seating area, with the same $295 prix-fixe menu for everyone that features many courses over more than five hours. Over 20,000 postcards are sent in every year for the prized reservations, so the odds of snagging one are long. However, every postcard received is saved.

Erin French makes the restaurant's meals with seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients, including poultry, meats, fish, seafood, and cheese from area farmers and fishermen in addition to produce. The Lost Kitchen's menu also changes daily according to what's fresh that day. Town liquor laws don't allow restaurants to serve alcohol, but patrons can bring their own or buy wine from a wine shop run by French's mother in the mill's cellar.

No reservation is required to sample the "nibbles and sips" available from Little Lost Kitchen, which is open during the day in the mill's back garden overlooking the mill pond. There are also cabins for overnight stays, and a shop that sells kitchen items, tableware and glassware, home and garden items, and more, which are also for sale online. Everyone whose postcard has never been picked can also try making French's recipes themselves with her "The Lost Kitchen" cookbook.