It’s been just a few short weeks since chef Missy Robbins opened her newest ode to Italian cuisine, Misi, in Williamsburg, New York, but already the restaurant is attracting attention for its pasta. Each day the restaurant churns out an enticing list of fresh noodles, from plump spinach and mascarpone-stuffed tortellini to flat linguine.

But while these plates are certainly the stars of the show, it’s the marvelous pasta-making process that has people on the streets stopping in their tracks. The action and essence of Misi takes place front and center in a 350-square-foot glassed-in pasta room facing the street. Here, patrons and passersby can pause to soak in the theater of pasta production. “People love watching people at work,” says Robbins. “The number of people standing on the street watching the team make pasta is astonishing.”