FOOD+DRINK
O N T H E LI N E W I T H
DAVID CAVALIER Capishe’s head chef left the world of fine dining for pizza, pasta, and family BY TAYLOR BOWLER
You may know him from: Kindred, where he was sous chef Age: 40 Relationship status: Married with a 19-year-old daughter and a son born in May Hometown: Buford, Georgia Currently lives in: Mooresville Currently watching: Ozark Favorite sports team: Atlanta Falcons
Why do you think Italian food is having such a moment in Charlotte? For a long time, there was no good Italian food here, so there’s an open market for it. There’s a lot of pasta going on right now—the Napoli region of Italy is making a big impression. And how can you not love it? It’s pizza, pasta, and family. How did this opportunity at Capishe come to you? One of the (silent) partners is a good friend of mine and introduced me to (founder) Bruce Willette. I thought, “Do I really want to work for the fast casual guy from Salsarita’s?” It was an adjustment, but it’s been a year and a half now, and I don’t want to be anywhere else. It was the perfect time to do something I said I would never do. How did you develop Capishe’s menu? I’d been working at more fine dining restaurants, so in a sense I had to tone down my flavor profiles. I think I understood immediately when Bruce asked me to put Kindred down and do something new and different. I created 80 percent of the recipes here. We make all of our pastas, sauces, and pizza dough in-house with mostly Italian products.
THE TOUGH STUFF Chocolate or cheese? Cheese Coffee or tea? Tea Beer or wine? Beer Pasta or pizza? Pasta Cannoli or gelato? Gelato Baked or fried? Baked Appetizer or dessert? Appetizer Cheerios or Frosted Flakes? Cheerios Street eats or sit-down? Street eats Lobster roll or egg roll? Egg roll French fries or French onion soup? Soup Spicy noodles or spaghetti & meatballs? Spicy noodles
How is this experience different from a white tablecloth restaurant? People come here for the food, not the alcohol or amazing dining room with art everywhere. There are no other bells and whistles. They’re coming here to eat good food or take it home to share with friends and family.
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CHARLOTTEMAGAZINE.COM // JUNE 2020
What ingredients do you always have on hand? Flour, water, and really good olive oil. And you can never let go of butter. What do you think is an underappreciated flavor? Bitter. You have sweet, salty, and sour, but bitter is one of the more misunderstood flavors. Garlic is bitter until you treat it properly. Arugula is bitter, but when you put the right dressing on it, it tastes amazing. What’s one recipe you nail every single time? The marsala cream sauce on our rigatoni with chicken. People want that sauce on their table with a straw. What’s your favorite dish to make? I love making pasta. If you have something on your mind, go make pasta. It’s therapeutic. What’s your favorite restaurant in Charlotte, other than your own? Haymaker. William [Dissen] works so hard at sourcing local foods and really cares about Charlotte. They do really good food and share a lot of the same ideas we shared at Kindred. And I still really like Kindred a lot (laughs). Any rules to live by in the kitchen? Teamwork. A restaurant is a team sport. If you’re not coachable, then the restaurant industry might not be the place for you.
ANNE WILLETTE
How do you describe your approach to cooking? I’m pretty methodical. If it’s great now, I try it a few more times. It’s my creative process. I like to have fun at work, but I have a serious edge to me. When my staff sees me being a little silly, it catches them off guard.
