Lovitt's Leavin'

In true sharon fashion of neglecting to support former co-workers in their budding careers - i finally went to Lovitt for dinner last night, despite having worked worked with Norman Six (chef/owner) at the blackhawk lodge many years back when Corky O'Conner was Chef, and despite Lovitt being open for the past few years. My only disappointment came with learning that Lovitt will be closing their doors by the end of June. Norman and his wife Kristen are moving back to Washington state to open their restaurant in a new location in an old farmhouse in Colville (they'll keep the Lovitt name). Michael Carlson, Norman's Sous Chef also previously of Blackhawk Lodge (and Giocco) will take over the restaurant with a new name - Schwa or Schwe ? - and re-open in September.

Dinner was simple and wonderful. My friend and I started out with a cheese platter, which included a manchego and a deep, tangy bleu cheese. then we had the gnocchi - and tho i'm very partial to spiaggia's gnocchi - it was excellent. bigger than i usually see, the gnocchi were so very light, they melted in you mouth. they were accompanied by shrimp and prociutto, and topped, not doused, with the perfect amount of a rich, smoky tomato sauce. dee-licious and filling. we were treated to an amuse of grapefruit with chocolate, and a salad of green tomatoes with cheese and a lemon dressing which was very tasty!

Lovitt is byob, and they don't charge a corkage fee.

I encourage anyone who has been wanting to try this restaurant to do so before they skip town! Friends who have been say the Sunday brunch is excellent, with great vegetarian options as well.

Oh no! Lovitt is one of my favorite restaurants! Since I'm a lousy cook who loves wine it's been a great place for my husband and I to take a really nice bottle of wine (often gifts) to enjoy with a fine meal - one that I certainly couldn't cook myself. I'm not a vegetarian, but I often order their veggie or vegan entrees because they are every bit as good as their meat-centered entrees.

Any knowledhe of the kind of cuisine that the new owners will have and the continued status of the BYOB?

leesh wrote:I encourage anyone who has been wanting to try this restaurant to do so before they skip town! Friends who have been say the Sunday brunch is excellent, with great vegetarian options as well.

According to their answering machine, they no longer serve brunch on Sundays.

June 30 will be their last day in business.

Drop it like it's hot,
J. Ro

Say it ain't so! I just saw a photo of Norman Six in the Bright One shopping at the Green City market. It made me remember that I hadn't been there in awhile. Lovitt's one of the best truly BYO-friendly places in the city...cozy room, friendly people and completely un-fussy good food. I'll especially miss the small-talk with Norman and his staff on the way to and from the bathroom, a trip requiring a short-cut through the kitchen. While no fan of Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher's column, I can't think of a better excuse for "Open That Bottle Night" than toasting the Sixes a fond farewell.

CoolerbytheLake wrote:I can't think of a better excuse for "Open That Bottle Night" than toasting the Sixes a fond farewell.

I'd be up for a "First Day of Summer" (Tues June 21, or somewhere around that date) farewell to the Sixes dinner at Lovitt. Anyone else up for it?

Sharon

Sharon,

Why not firm things up and post on the Events board?

I might be 'up' for it!

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Why not firm things up and post on the Events board?

Done. See Events Board.

Going there for dinner tonite - 9:30 was the earliest reservation I could get ... I'll report back.

Friday nite at Lovitt:

When (forgotten her name, Norman's wife) came over and asked if there were any questions, the first thing out of my mouth was "Don't you realize how bad the weather and how boring the social scene is in Washington State?" Despite my best efforts, couldn't convince them to stay.

Started with some cornbread crusted oysters - very lightly cooked - then went on to the soft shell crabs, lightly dusted with flour for just the slightest crust. Unfortunately (my mistake) I didn't realize the garnish of ± 7 spots of red sauce on the plate were a hot pepper sauce ... but at least my last bite was spicy (the crabs didn't need the hot sauce, but it certainly added to the flavor).

To nitpick, I've always thought the cheese plate at Lovitt was not as strong as the rest of their offerings. Thin slices of good French bread, apple butter, and grapes accompanied three Spanish cheeses, Cabrales, Manchengo, and a third whose name I don't remember. It was fine, but not as surprising or interesting as the rest of the meal.

One in our party eschewed the cheese plate and went for strawberry shortcake as dessert. It had to the best version of that classic I've ever sampled - very rich, not too sweet strawberry flavor - and strawberry is a tough flavor to make so intense without it comiing across as cooked.

But what particularly interested me was a table of - I believe - about 6 people all the way across the room from us (i.e. about 8 feet away). They were carefully taking pix of everything that came to their table, sampling with serious facial expressions, then discussing in both hushed and joyously raised vocalizations. I had to wonder - were there other LTHers? From another board? To reference a Mike G post earlier today, is this whole foodie thing taking over the world (or at least he Chicago Metropolitan area)?

Wish I'd brought my camera.