Cavalier Brings Mediterranean Cooking and Decadent Design to Chinatown

Mason Lindahl and Yasmin Kaytmaz. Photos courtesy of Emily Sandstrom.

Cavalier makes a persuasive case for treating dinner as a full-room experience. The new restaurant on East Broadway brings together richly colored surfaces, low light and Mediterranean cooking with unexpected American Southern touches. Its founders, Yasmin Kaytmaz and Mason Lindahl, have built a place where the atmosphere is part of the appeal, while the food keeps its own distinct point of view.

Kaytmaz founded Derby Cup Coffee and co-owns The River. Lindahl was previously executive chef at Diner and Monkey Bar. At Cavalier, the menu’s cross-cultural notes are direct and specific: collard greens appear in duck risotto, while snapper arrives on mashed potatoes. Lavash bread takes a different route, and proved popular enough at one recent visit to prompt a second order. The chocolate mousse has also drawn praise, though the visitor who shared the account hadn’t tried it personally.

The room sets a different kind of tone from the menu. Pink-lacquered tables, a gold-leaf ceiling, Art Deco sun-shaped fixtures and soft leather pillows give the space a seductive, lounge-like feel. A mural by Georgia Gardner Gray adds a vivid detail in the back room. Kaytmaz’s attention to lighting isn’t just a design preference: she says she readjusts it repeatedly in the hour before service. For Lindahl, the first impression begins with the greeting at the door.

That focus on sensory details fits a restaurant shaped by two different kinds of kitchen instinct. Kaytmaz says her defining dish might be grape leaves, while Lindahl names a perfect green salad. Their essential ingredients differ too: sumac for Kaytmaz, cilantro for Lindahl. Those answers sketch a menu sensibility built around bright, recognizable flavors and personal taste, rather than a single signature style.

Two founders, two sets of food instincts

Their answers to questions about everyday eating offer a more relaxed portrait. Kaytmaz’s preferred solo meal is pad Thai in bed; Lindahl reaches for Riley’s beef jerky. Asked what they last ate, she named borscht from the Russian Turkish Bathhouse, while he recalled a taco made for family meal. These are not matching appetites, and that contrast feels useful: the restaurant’s identity can hold both Kaytmaz’s fondness for grape leaves and Lindahl’s devotion to a well-made salad.

They also have different relationships with food trends. Kaytmaz is ready to move on from Dubai Chocolate, though she admits she still loves frozen yogurt enough to wait in line. Lindahl says he doesn’t follow trends. Their most committed food opinions are more personal: Kaytmaz stands by basil on a bagel; Lindahl insists tomatoes should be cut on the stem. She says she’ll eat anything, while he avoids shellfish because he’s allergic.

Small rituals matter to them, too. Kaytmaz drinks hot water and keeps extra dark chocolate for a fridge-side snack. Lindahl favors iced tea and leftover family meal. When asked what they consume when they’re sad, Kaytmaz names rotisserie chicken from just about anywhere; Lindahl goes for jerky. Their choices sound like practical comforts, not elaborate restaurant dishes, and they balance the careful atmosphere of Cavalier with a clear sense of how people actually eat off the clock.

Restaurant life, in their own words

Running a restaurant comes with a blunt trade-off, according to Kaytmaz: owners get surprisingly little time to eat. Lindahl’s answer is broader and more rueful: “Life is hard. Restaurants are harder.” In the hour before opening, their roles diverge again. She makes another pass at the lighting; he runs around prepping. The details suggest how hospitality depends on both the room guests see and the work happening just before they arrive.

Their favorite places and cookbook picks point to a wide-ranging appetite. Kaytmaz names Philadelphia as an underrated city for eating; Lindahl chooses Milan. On a night off, she might have chicken broth, while he goes for Vietnamese food. Her recommended cookbook is The River Cafe cookbook, while his is Simple French Food by Richard Olney. For a dish everyone should learn, she chooses roast chicken; he recommends a French omelet, with the caveat that it’s harder than it looks.

Even the answers about condiments show how differently they think about flavor: Kaytmaz picks vinegar, Lindahl bagna cauda. Asked what they wish they’d invented, she says pho and he says head cheese. The range is telling. Their food references move between comfort, technique and strong individual preferences, much like the restaurant’s menu mixes Mediterranean cooking with Southern ingredients.

For a Chinatown dinner, Cavalier’s appeal rests on that combination: an intimate, visually expressive room, a menu with clear points of connection and surprise, and founders whose tastes don’t collapse into one shared template. The practical takeaway is to make room for the lavash—and, if the dessert sounds appealing, leave space for the chocolate mousse.