Where else can I sit at the counter and watch the magic?

[dgoldentyer]

We thoroughly enjoyed sitting at the counter at Commis last night and watching the chefs do their cheffing. Now we want to do the same elsewhere. Does any other restaurant offer such a great view of the kitchen?

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Commis
3859 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611

[Shrinkrap]

Boulevard's! My husband, a chowhound-by-marriage, just did this! He texted me, blow by blow! I think you can actually reserve seats at their counter on opentable.

Here's another thread like this

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/732993

[Frids]

Ella's, Presidio and California, has a counter from which you can watch the kitchen action.

[steve h.]

Cotogna, near Jackson Square, has a wood-fired oven with a bar-like setup in front of the pyro that can accommodate maybe six. I prefer to sit at the real bar on the far right where I can watch all the fire action and chat with a seriously good bartender. The food is wonderful here.

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Cotogna
490 Pacific Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133

[Renn]

Ah one of my favorite pursuits!

Wakuriya in San Mateo is, as far as I know, the only place where you can watch kaiseki cuisine being prepared in front of you.

The two leftmost seats at the bar at Bourbon Steak (ex-Michael Mina) were pretty good for seeing both expo as well as a couple of the hot stations. (Bleacher seats used to be across the street at Lefty O'Douls...but I think they made the windows opaque?)

At Sons and Daughters there are two tables with view of the kitchen...although they're a little on the low side for seeing plate ups.

Rotisserie and Wine's leftmost bank of seats at the bar all the way to the curve gives you a good view of one of the prep areas.

Ubuntu's communal table has a couple of seats at the end for good kitchen viewing

Counter Seats at Wayfare Tavern (although most use this to watch TyFlo...not so much the hot line)

Tacolicious has counter seats in front of the line as does Tacubaya

There's the kitchen table at Benu...

Blue Plate's counter seats put you in front of garde manger, and it's tiny enough to see everything else.

Sumika in Los Altos has counter seats that give you a nice view of the grill.

There's always sushi bars, various diners, burger joints and taquerias.

And then of course there's Benihana....

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Ubuntu Restaurant & Yoga Studio
1140 Main Street, Napa, CA 94558

Blue Plate
3218 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

Sumika
236 Central Plz, Los Altos, CA 94022

Tacubaya
1788 4th St, Berkeley, CA 94710

Wakuriya
115 De Anza Blvd, San Mateo, CA

Tacolicious
2031 Chestnut St, San Francisco, CA 94123

Wayfare Tavern
558 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, CA 94111

Benu
22 Hawthorne St, San Francisco, CA 94103

[AnonymousWaitress]

Kitchen table at Benu? Any details on that? That's the first I've heard of that.

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Benu
22 Hawthorne St, San Francisco, CA 94103

[Renn]

It's a table for two right in the kitchen up against the window...that's all I know.

[harrochuck]

Corso in Berkeley has about 4 bar seats where you can see everything happening. It was definitely cool seeing my whole fried rabbit being made!

Trattoria La Siciliana has an open kitchen, but no bar seats so if you happen to grab the tables nearest to the kitchen everything is in plain view. Gotta love that unlimited bread and garlic/olive oil dip!

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Trattoria La Siciliana
2993 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

Corso
1788 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709

[dgoldentyer]

Thank you all. What a great list to tackle!

[singleguychef]

Nopa has a counter

And across the street is Bar Crudo for raw seafood and chowder with a nice long bar

Saison supposedly has a nice open kitchen although I heard the counter seats are for the chef's menu which is pricey.

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Bar Crudo
655 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, CA 94117

Nopa
560 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94117

Saison
2124 Folsom St., San Francisco, CA 94110

[DezzerSF]

At Commonwealth, you can see everything.

[eatzalot]

As others noted, these set-ups are hardly limited to San Francisco proper. I've seen several notable ones around the Bay Area. Two that come to mind right away are at the unusual eclectic Calafia in Palo Alto (Ayers, Google's famous former chef) at T&C center, ECR at Embarcadero -- I could also add Howie's Artisan Pizza, Howard Bulka's post-Marché enterprise in the same complex, if you like watching offbeat pizzas made; and Paradiso in San Leandro, a very comfortable restaurant with local following in a quiet neighborhood accessible via 880, in between the Oakland-Berkeley and South-Bay population centers

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Paradiso Restaurant
685 Bancroft Ave., San Leandro, CA 94577

Calafia
855 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA

Howie's Artisan Pizza
855 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94301

[gmk1322]

Dottie's has about 6 seats at the counter where your can watch a magician work his magic! Great food too!

[toodie jane]

There's a pair of counter seats (IMO the best in the house) at Betty's Oceanview Diner in Berkeley, right at the plating station. You can watch the flattop, the egg station and more from those seats. Like a ballet in action, 5 feet from your nose. At 8:30 on a Sunday morning, you can't beat it. Wonderful. The food's very good, too.

[Bigshadetree]

Your post brought back memories of my father taking me for quick lunches or dinners
at Economy in Oakland Chinatown - probably 45 years ago - that's where I learned how to
stir fry :). When they would get busy it was the wife hollering out orders and the husband
and other shiinsan making magic at 4 different woks - always wondered what he had in that
old oil can, the one that looked like it came straight from an old garage - my Dad would always
say that's the secret ingredient!

[Sharuf]

The classic Marin Joe's in Corte Madera, which dates back to the 1950's, is as authentic an incarnation of the beloved Joe's Genre as you will find. They have a long counter where you can sit and watch all the flipping and stirring going on right in front of your nose. If you're a regular, or an attractive young woman, they'll probably strike up a conversation with you.

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Marin Joe's
1585 Casa Buena Dr, Corte Madera, CA 94925

[vulber]

Yamo is fun - not just for the excitement of the cooking and entirely open kitchen, but because of the amazing study in efficiency of three people working in a kitchen smaller than most people's home kitchens churning out cheap delicious food to long lines of people.

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Yamo
3406 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

[Mr_Happy]

The counter at Plum in Oakland is right in front of the kitchen.

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Plum
2214 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612

[steve h.]

In Manhattan, I always enjoyed watching Anthony Mangieri making pizzas at Una Pizza Napoletana. I would pick a table up front. It's not the same as sitting at the bar at Commis but it is pretty cool. I understand you can do the same thing at his new shop on 11th Street/Howard.

Similarly, Tony Gemignani up in North Beach (Tony's Pizza Napoletana) has his wood-fired oven set up in the back dining area. Tony is an interesting guy. He's also a multi-tasker so you can walk over and chat with him while he's working.

It's always a pleasure to see passionate folk demonstrating their talents.

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Commis
3859 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611

Una Pizza Napoletana
200 11th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

[Robert Lauriston]

The oven at UPN is a fair distrance from the closest tables. You can see plenty, but you're not on top of the action as at Commis and other places mentioned here.

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Commis
3859 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611

[steve h.]

How did you like the pie?

[Robert Lauriston]

I thought it was one of the better Neapolitan-style pies around here. Flavorful crust, top-quality toppings.

[majordanby]

brown sugar kitchen in oakland has counter seating in front of the kitchen.

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Brown Sugar Kitchen
2534 Mandela Pkwy, Oakland, CA 94607

[DavidT]

You can sit at the counter and watch the wok show at Henry's Hunan on Sacramento St. (between Montgomery & Kearny).

I also recommend sitting at the counter at Joe's of Westlake in Daly City (John Daly Blvd.). Watching the cooks work the sautee pans is quite a show.

[Steve Green]

Forgot about Joe's. Apart from the cooking show, with that 1000+-degree charbroiler, what I find interesting there is how the expediter (or whatever you call him) shuffles the orders around and calls them out to the cooks at the proper time, so that a table's completed order is synchronized. I bet that's not easy.

[Ruth Lafler]

There's really nothing more showy than experienced short order cooks during the breakfast rush.

[Frids]

Pork Shop Cafe, Haight and Ashbury for example.

[TerriL]

The Corte Madera Joe's also has a great counter ton watch the action from.

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Madera
2825 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025

[Steve Green]

Brandy Ho's on Columbus. If you sit at the counter just to the right of the pass, you get to see the wok cooks in action (pretty intense), and as an added bonus you can check out everyone's finished dishes waiting to be picked up at the pass, only a couple of feet away..

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Brandy Ho's Hunan Food
217 Columbus Ave., San Francisco, CA 94133

[nocharge]

Older thread:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7295...

[kellylee]

Wood Tavern in Oakland on College Avenue has a couple of cozy stools with a view. Great food, too!

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Wood Tavern
6317 College Ave., Oakland, CA 94618

[skwid]

You could go to Canteen and sit at the counter as Canteen's kitchen is almost as small as Commis'. Most restaurants have a much larger kitchen than Commis so you don't get to see quite as much. At A16 you can watch the pizza guy and the meats getting cooked (two different stations) if you sit at the counter. We did that a few weeks ago.

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A16
2355 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA 94123

Commis
3859 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611