Every order of the Turkish tiramisu at the St. Regis’s posh Mediterranean restaurant Alhambra arrives deconstructed, and that’s by design. A server presents a tray of ladyfingers, then carefully douses them with espresso, spoons a layer of Turkish coffee-infused cream and finishes with a dusting of cocoa. “It’s a very memorable experience,” pastry chef Karen Yang tells Eater. “It’s not just a simple dessert on the table.” These days, D.C. restaurateurs are asking servers and chefs to put on a performance in the dining room with dishes that are prepared right in front of diners’ eyes — or anyone who happens to be hypnotized by its video recap on social media. It could involve everything from precise slicing, an elegantly poured sauce, scented fog, or a flash of flame. That’s the case at the Occidental, Stephen Starr’s old-school downtown restaurant that grabbed headlines for its combustible bananas Foster.  “We wanted a signature dish that we could do tableside that would really be a spectacle and garner attention from the surrounding diners. It’s been a major hit,” says general manager John Grace. “It’s the whole showmanship, the flambé … that stops everyone mid-conversation to see how the server is working his magic.” At the new Marcus DC in NoMa, pastry chef Rachel Sherriffe leaves the kitchen and gets behind a cake cart, roaming the dining room to slice and plate praline coconut cake featuring layers of coconut jam, candied hazelnuts, stewed pears, cinnamon-rum Chantilly, and roasted pear sorbet for each guest. (The restaurant also does its famous Mel’s Crab Rice tossed tableside.) A front-row seat of the action can even boost the bottom line. Michael Valerio, the director of operations for Balos Estiatorio and Bar Angie, certainly took note when Balos’ roving martini cart hit it big on social media. “It’s changed brunch from $5,000 brunches to $10,000 brunches,” he says. The two Northwest sibling restaurants are going big on dramatic presentations — like artfully poured au jus for French dip sandwiches at Bar Angie or tomahawk steak carved tableside at Balos — and Valerio believes this trend has legs. “Like all restaurant business, fads come and go. I do believe this one will stick around for a while because there are still so many creative things we can do tableside that we haven’t really scratched the surface yet,” he says. Here’s where to go for all sorts of dramatically served dishes, desserts, and drinks around town.  Drinks An espresso martini cart roams the dining room during brunch service at Balos, as bartenders whip up cocktails on demand with a choice of four or five different flavors. McLean, Virginia’s Neutral Ground Bar + Kitchen also features a cocktail cart during its Sunday jazz brunch set to live music. The cart is loaded with nonalcoholic seasonal spritzers, with bubbly added on request to make it boozy.  River Club’s signature martini in Georgetown is served from a cocktail cart, and delivered to the table on a golden coaster with a flourish — including a lemon expression, three drops of Spanish extra virgin olive oil, and a side dish of accoutrements. Matcha gets the tableside treatment at DMV-wide Jinya Ramen Bar, where the green powder is poured over lychee-lemonade as you watch for a sweet-meets-sour-meets floral mocktail. Michelin-starred Elcielo, the dramatic fine dining restaurant in Union Market district, attempts to transport diners to Colombia’s misty and mountainous coffee fields with a tableside coffee service and tasting that concludes with coffee-scented fog that envelopes the table.  Entrees At Carbonara in Arlington, a server theatrically slides a blanket of gooey, melty cheese and sauce onto chicken Parmigiana alla vodka right at your table, enabling the breaded chicken to stay extra crispy. At Nobu’s West End location, the Japanese A5 wagyu flambé is, as the name suggests, torched tableside with brandy to enhance the already luxe flavors of the meat. At Del Mar, chef Fabio Trabocchi’s Spanish restaurant on the Wharf, a soft, spicy sausage with smoked pimenton from Mallorca called sobrasada is spooned tableside. Khachapuri, Georgia’s pizza-like national dish, mixes a raw egg into molten cheese to create the perfect creamy consistency, and that process is done tableside at Karravaan in Union Market. The khachapuri isn’t quite traditional, though: It’s made with naan bread and finished with “everything-bagel”-esque spices. And Shaw’s new all-day Sook revives a traditional take on the dish that it predecessor Compass Rose executed well for years. Japanese dining hall downtown Love, Makoto is big on theatrical, interactive presentations. At DIY grilling spot Beloved BBQ, servers handle a 500-degree cast iron pot at the table, breaking an egg and mixing it into veggie or wagyu fried rice, giving the rice sizzle and a crunchy tahdig-like crust. Beijing duck is what put Philippe Chow on the map in NYC, and the painstaking process is the same at the Wharf, involving a dry-aged, slow-roasted duck that arrives on a beautiful tray and is then carved tableside. Every duck cutter in the restaurant is either trained by either its namesake chef Chow himself or one of his understudies. Dessert Tableside tiramisu is especially having a moment on the finales front. For a creative take, Paraíso‘s version on Capitol Hill entails dark Mexican chocolate poured over horchata cookie and mascarpone. And Fiola Mare on the Georgetown waterfront is offering tableside tiramisu on weekends, with rotating flavors (the current offerings are pistachio, creamsicle, and pumpkin spice). And downtown L’Ardente’s version of tiramisu surrounds espresso-soaked ladyfingers, mascarpone and passion fruit in a golden chocolate dome that’s theatrically melted tableside. And fire always makes for a fine finale. The Occidental has its own spin on Brennan’s famous Bananas foster in New Orleans, caramelizing bananas at the table in butter and brown sugar, igniting rum to create an eye-catching flame. Meanwhile, a classy version of Baked Alaska is also ignited at Penn Quarter’s lobby-level hotel restaurant Café Riggs. ...read more read less