We refer to these restaurants as but I’m pretty sure the correct name is teppanyaki? Either way, the Japanese steakhouse type restaurants where the chef will cook in front of a group at an open flat top, cooking most orders right in front of you, making onion volcanos, squiring sake in your mouth, flicking zucchini, you know the drill.

My question is, what do the chefs do when they’re not cooking? Is there a dugout in the back where they’re on call? Just waiting for the big party to come in? Do they practice their craft and spin eggs on spatulas like some backstage circus? Do they just cook on the line for the rest of the restaurant when they’re not needed on the teppanyaki table? What happens?!