Most diners eat out to get away from the kitchen, but at a handful of local restaurants, stoveside is where you’ll find the best, most exclusive seats in the house. Which should be obvious: Watching a top-tier chef prepare your meal can be like seeing a magician reveal his trick. Just don’t be shy: “We like talking to people,” says Rose’s Luxury chef Aaron Silverman.

Daikaya

Kitchen-side seats: 10

What you can see: Cooks meticulously preparing bowls of Sapporo-style ramen. From the boiling of noodles to the stir-frying of bean sprouts and pork, each step requires a stopwatch-precise amount of time before the ingredients can come together in the bowl.

Table

Kitchen-side seats: 4

What you can see: The exposed kitchen runs along the entirety of the first-floor dining room with nothing but a counter separating customers from chef Frederik de Pue’s team. For the best experience, though, grab one of the four stools at the small tables attached to the actual prep counters.

Doi Moi

Kitchen-side seats: 15

What you can see: From Doi Moi’s airy kitchen, chef Haidar Karoum and his team brush corn on the cob with coconut cream over a grill and toss meats and spices in flaming woks.

Kapnos

Kitchen-side seats: 9

What you can see: The centerpieces of Mike Isabella’s living love letter to northern Greece are the giant spits roasting whole lamb, pig, and goat. Grab a seat at the counter to glaze over in front of these hypnotic ferris wheels of spinning meat.

Rose’s Luxury

Kitchen-side seats: 8

What you can see: The team at Rose’s Luxury constructs its eclectic menu—ranging from popcorn soup to pho—along the narrow corridor between the front and back dining rooms. Counter seats facing the open kitchen are backlit by a neon “awesome” sign. Table seats may be scarce at the white-hot Barracks Row restaurant, but the stools are a great way to bypass the wait and say hello to chef Silverman.

Birch & Barley

Kitchen-side seats: 4

What you can see: Chef Kyle Bailey cooks up everything from flatbreads to fried chicken at the small kitchen counter in the 14th Street NW restaurant’s semi-private back dining room. The secluded locale means your only distractions are the sights, sounds, and smells coming from the kitchen.

Photos of Rose’s Luxury, Daikaya, Table, and Doi Moi by Brian Oh. Photo of Kapnos by Jessica Sidman. Photo of Birch & Barley courtesy Greg Powers.