In recent years the term “farm-to-table” has become increasingly prevalent at culinary destinations. But what does it really mean to be a farm-to-table restaurant?
As a consumer, we understand the term at its most baseline value. Food we are eating comes from a farm and is presented on the table in front of us. It is fresh, delicious and hopefully organic. We enjoy our meal and then move on, wondering little about the specifics of how the meal got to our plate.

In reality, there is a rigorous process involved in becoming a bona fide farm-to-table restaurant. Kristen and Norman Six of Lovitt Restaurant aim to shed light on what exactly the farm-to-table experience means, by way of their fresh eats, relaxed atmosphere and careful attention to detail at their new Bellingham location.
Lovitt Restaurant now occupies the spot once held by The Fairhaven Pub. After six months of serious renovation, Lovitt opened its doors in March 2017.
“We completely redid the whole kitchen and most elements of the space,” Kristen says. “For the most part, it was a two-person job. We spent so much time here from September to March, making sure everything was right,” she says.
Norman looks at her and agrees. “Yeah, we pretty much lived here,” he says.
The irony in that is that the Sixes did used to live at the location they operated their restaurant out of. For 11 years they ran the restaurant out of their house in the small town of Colville, Washington, which was the second stop in Lovitt’s continual journey.
After meeting in Chicago, Kristen and Norman opened the first incarnation of the restaurant in the city. Following three years in Illinois, the couple moved back to Norman’s native Northeast Washington. A big reason for the move was because Norman couldn’t get his hands on locally-sourced and good-tasting meats.

Raised in the unincorporated part of Tiger, WA, Norman grew up on delicious home-cooked meals comprised of grass-fed animals. He knew he could get the quality of meat he was looking for if he moved back to Washington.
Around the time of the move, Norman was dealing with increasing cholesterol levels and was about to go on medication for them. He made the decision to change the way he was eating and, in turn, the way the patrons at his restaurant would be eating. Moving back to Washington allowed the Sixes to fully develop Lovitt’s mission and cooking philosophy.
Lovitt uses only whole animals, raised in ideal living conditions, grass-fed and taken care of by small-time ranchers. That is a part of the Lovitt cooking philosophy. Serving fresh fish brought in to the restaurant on the day of the catch. That is a part of the Lovitt cooking philosophy. Incorporating locally-sourced and organic produce and dairy into their dishes. That is a part of the Lovitt cooking philosophy. Breads, pastries, buns, syrups and sauces hand-made every day. That is a part of the Lovitt cooking philosophy. Lifelong relationships built with the ranchers, farmers, growers and patrons of the restaurant. Well at this point you could probably fill in the blank, but I’ll help you out anyway. That is a part of the Lovitt cooking philosophy.
When you sit down at Lovitt, you aren’t just going for a quick meal that you will forget you even ate 10 minutes later. You go to Lovitt for the experience. You go to Lovitt to be fed real food, made with real ingredients, sourced from small, local business owners.

“We’re trying to develop multiple facets with our restaurant,” Kristen says. “We want to foster in the idea of the slow-food movement, help our local economy and improve people’s eating habits.”
Lovitt’s 11-year stint in Colville came to an end in the fall of 2016. As Kristen and Norman’s children got older they wanted to find a bigger community that would be a better fit for both the family and restaurant. Cooking philosophy in hand, the Sixes started looking at relocating to Western Washington. They considered places in Olympia and Seattle before ultimately deciding to come to Bellingham.
Approaching their third month since opening, the Sixes are looking for innovative ways to get customers through the doors. Starting this month, Lovitt will be open for brunch on Saturday and Sundays. This will add some hours to the restaurant’s current schedule. With the addition of brunch, Lovitt will be open Tuesday through Friday for lunch and dinner services, Saturday for brunch and dinner, and Sunday for brunch only.
The new brunch menu contains an eggs benedict with house cured prosciutto, grilled French toast topped with local cherries and homemade blueberry pancakes with Hempler’s bacon. As with all menu items everything is made using either grapeseed oil, coconut oil, butter or lard.
“We ditch canola oil and vegetable oil in our cooking. We want you to be able to walk away from one of our meals feeling good,” Norman says. “The fact that here you can eat a giant plate of pancakes and leave feeling energized afterward says something.”