Erin French was born Erin Richardson in 1981 and grew up in Freedom, Maine. Freedom is a small town in Waldo County. According to the 2020 US Census, Freedom’s population is 711. It was even smaller during Erin’s youth.
Erin appears to have graduated from Mount View High School in Thorndike, Maine in 1999.
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Erin’s parents, Deanna L. Richardson David J. Richardson married in Rockport, Maine August 18, 1979. They remained married for almost 4 decades, separating just shy of their 40th anniversary in January of 2019.
Both Erin’s mother & father provided guidance during Erin’s culinary journey. Seemingly, each parent was pivotal at different stages of her career.
Not surprisingly, Erin worked in her father’s restaurant as a child. She credits this experience for giving her both the inspiration and work ethic to start her own restaurant.
Erin worked at her father’s diner, The Ridge Top Restaurant located at 6 Knox Ridge Road in Knox, Maine.
The diner opened in 1984 and remained in business through 2019. Unfortunately, like many Maine restaurants, it did not survive the pandemic and closed in August of 2021.
Management left this message on the diner’s Facebook page:
Good morning. With lots of thoughts due to the lack of help we are forced to close our doors. It hasn’t been an easy decision. We want to thank everyone for all the support over the years. Mammies in Unity is still open. Hope to see you there.
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Oddly, Mammie’s Country Kitchen in Unity, Maine was the scene of a bizarre incident in 2022. A customer left their truck idling the diner’s parking lot. Unfortunately, he also left a large amount of loose ammunition in the truck which at some point ignited. The resulting explosions caused a fire which destroyed the truck but left the restaurant unscathed.
When Erin set out to create the first incarnation of The Lost Kitchen in Belfast, Maine, her mother provided inspiration and moral support.
Erin’s divorce was a dark time in her life. She took time off to attend rehab and regroup mentally. As a result, her budding culinary fan-base was confused by her absence along with the abrupt closure of the original Lost Kitchen in Belfast.
Deanna stepped in to help out and maintain communication with TLK fans through the Lost Kitchen’s Facebook page.
TLK is indeed closed, but only temporarily. As Erin’s mom, I can tell you that she is looking forward to creating more wonderful meals in the very near future. Will let you know when she returns!
More recently, her mother Deanna Richardson, started working alongside Erin at the Lost Kitchen. In 2017, Richardson recounted to NPR News how her former work colleagues tried to dissuade Erin from opening the current restaurant in Freedom.
Alicia Richardson is Erin’s younger sister. An early 2010’s article in MaineBoats.com mentions Alicia assisting her sister as host at the first incarnation of the Lost Kitchen in Belfast, Maine. Of note, this early restaurant publicity seems likely connected to then-husband Todd French’s maritime industry network.
On a Facebook post on opening day April 1, 2016, Erin thanked Alicia and her mother for helping work the phones. Whereas, Deanna Richmond is a permanent fixture at TLK, it appears that Alicia jumped in from time to time when needed.
As of July 2022, Alicia Richardson is married and raising a family in Appleton, Maine. Alicia is a real estate agent working out of Camden, Maine. She represents buyers and seller throughout Mid-Coast Maine.
Mr. French seems to be cast as the villain here. Allegations like alcoholism, abuse, controlling behavior, etc. are recurring themes in many interviews online. Much of it reads like Star 80, culinary edition.
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The implication is that a crusty old boat-builder duped the vulnerable young Erin into marriage. Then, after side-tracking Erin’s career for several years, became jealous with her success, crushed her spirit, destroyed her restaurant and took her child away. Meanwhile, the collective patriarchy high-fived each other and laughed over Erin’s misery.
However, there are less charitable ways to interpret what happened between 2006-2012.
At the time Erin met her first husband she was a single mother. It appears the biological father was not meaningfully involved in their lives. Additionally, she dropped out of pre-med college studies and returned to the food service industry. Accordingly, it’s not unusual for someone in that situation to seek out a more stable partner. Mr. French was almost two decades older but also ambitious and entrepreneurial.
On a side-note, the “boat-builder” moniker, while technically accurate, is used derisively to describe Todd French’s career in much of the 2019-2021 media. Mr. French’s firm French & Webb has garnered worldwide acclaim for their yacht restoration and construction work. In 2019, the firm was commissioned for an ambitious plank-by-plank restoration of the USS Sequoia, which served as the floating White House for several US Presidents.
It appears like Todd & Erin French worked together to create the first incarnation of The Lost Kitchen in a restored bank building in downtown Belfast, Maine.
The original Lost Kitchen was located at 108 Main St Belfast, ME 04915. After this location closed, it was quickly replaced by world renowned chef Matthew Kenney’s The Gothic restaurant. It was is a Maine-themed vegetarian restaurant.
Michael Dutton met Erin French on the dating site match.com. According to Dutton’s LinkedIn page, he started working as a media advisor/Executive Producer for the Lost Kitchen in June of 2015.
Assuming that the two had dated for a while before he started working on the Lost Kitchen show, they likely met in 2014. They wed on August 24, 2018.
Significantly, Dutton is a media executive with experience at MTV, Associated Press and the History Channel. Additionally, he is a co-founder of 6ccMedia with offices in New York and Los Angeles.
Media interest in Erin French and the Lost Kitchen story increased significantly after Dutton’s appeared on the scene. After 2016, there was a rapid succession of book deals, features by the New York Times, Washington Post, People Magazine, Food & Wine , many repeating the brilliant “hardest-to book-reservation” soundbite or some variation. Coveted interviews with media powerhouses like the Today Show, PBS and CBS News also followed.
Source: https://gardencourte.com
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