Unexpected Dining Excellence

I lived 23 years in New York and eating out was our favorite luxury as we both had demanding careers.  So too many elaborate meals to count from moderate to exorbitantly priced.  But the most memorable was in Danville PA.  I arrived, exhausted, at an unpretentious Interstate motel after a long drive just after the poolside burger bar closed.  I was told the only choice was the restaurant but I had better hurry.  I looked at the menu headline “Our specialty is Flambé dishes.”  Oh, great I thought, if you can’t cook burn it. I ordered Chicken Piccata.  After the surprisingly elegant appetizer a rolling brazier pushed by the chef came to my table with a bunch of small dishes surrounding the sauté  pan.  The chef proceeded to make the sauce one ingredient at a time, gently sautéing the filleted chicken breast at the proper time finishing up with the wine and brandy for the flambé.  Delicious to say the least.  Breakfast was crepes flambé.  After work I got the story from the chef. I compared his dinner to Lutèce and he said I might have eaten one of his dishes as he was sous chef there but missed his home in the Poconos and convinced Sheraton to let him run a catering business out of their Interstate motel kitchen.