FREEDOM, Maine — The Lost Kitchen, one of the most sought-after restaurant reservations in the country, has started accepting reservations for its 2024 dining season — and you'll need a postcard and a lot of luck to score one.
Erin French's small but renowned Freedom restaurant on Tuesday announced the details of its postcard reservation system, which is the only way to get a seat. It said the cost of its multi-course dinners, lasting over five hours, has risen to $265 a person this year. French said she's been receiving more than 20,000 postcards each season.
The restaurant said customers should send a standard 4-inch by 6-inch postcard to this address and write 2024 in the upper-left corner:
- The Lost Kitchen
- 22 Mill Street
- Freedom, Maine 04941
The restaurant said people shouldn't use envelopes or send more than one postcard per person, as duplicates will be disqualified.
"Please do not send postcards on behalf of others," the restaurant added. "In the rare event that two family/party members receive a reservation call, within the same session, we kindly ask that you decline a second reservation."
The restaurant, which seats about 50, said it chooses postcards at random for reservations starting April 1 and will call those who have been selected for its dining season, which typically runs from May to September.
The Lost Kitchen was the subject of a television series and cookbooks by French, who is celebrating the restaurant's 10th anniversary this year.
"Dinner is so much more than a meal at (The Lost Kitchen)," its website says. "It's an evening, an adventure, a moment, and a memory. A night with us lasts over 5 hours, consists of many, many, many courses and not only fills your bellies, but your hearts. The mill is yours for the entire night, with an intimate group and the utmost personal attention from Erin and our tightly knit team. It is our duty to give you an experience that not only feels magical, but priceless at the same time. Our dinners reflects the value of the best ingredients we can find, and our commitment to pay our staff fairly and consciously, the unique experience we work so hard to provide you with."
French said she switched to the postcard reservation system in 2018 after being inundated with phone calls.
"It gave everyone the same opportunity and it just took a little bit of effort," she previously told NEWS CENTER Maine. "We decided if you didn't have the patience to write your name on a note card and pop it in the mail, you were not going to have the patience for a 4-hour dinner, so it was basically helping anyone out who wouldn't enjoy it."