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PRINGLE — Jose Rodriguez beamed brighter than the lights in the ceiling fans he helped install. “It’s like this school has my DNA in it now,” he said of the electrical wiring he did for West Side Career and Technical Center’s new cafe Thursday.

Though not a culinary student, the senior was invited for the grand opening of the cafe, remodeled from a drab classroom to a trendy eatery where students can learn to seat diners and serve their concoctions, courtesy of a nearly $20,000 grant from Lowe’s.

Mauvey pink paint and oversized silverware masked the institutional cement block walls, while curtains accented with flower-print valances dressed up the generic windows. Leafy green centerpieces sat on muted yellow table cloths, with red napkins folded in a pattern reminiscent of budding roses.

The fruit and cheese table featured two large apples cleverly carved into ever larger V shapes fanned out to resemble swans. “I visited Luzerne County Community College once to see their culinary program,” senior — and apple carver — Parker Dieffenbach said. He watched a chef there slice an apple into a swan, went home and “just did it,” with no training or instructions.

During a brief presentation before a crowd of students, faculty and guests hit the buffet, Dieffenbach reminisced about how the room used to look. “It was just a classroom with folding tables that were torn up and wobbly,” he said. “Now it has been transformed into something wonderful.”

Indeed. When culinary arts teacher Heidi Miller and CTC Assistant Director Richard Rava held a small media conference in July to announce the grant and planned makeover, the tables did wobble, and the antiquated food-warming station was held together by bolts loose enough to remove without a wrench.

Now the cafe could pass for an upscale side room in a four-star restaurant, as long as you don’t peek behind the shade and curtains on an interior wall — that’s where the white board for classroom lectures hides.

The hallway between the kitchen and cafe was also redone, with carpentry students building a hostess stand and some slim closets where lockers once stood.

Thursday’s grand opening menu included hot choices like chicken bruschetta and tortellini with blush sauce and pesto drizzle, or cold wraps stuffed with roasted turkey, bacon and avocado, to name just a few dishes.

Dieffenbach nixed the suggestion he open his own restaurant or launch his own cooking show, saying instead his ultimate goal as a chef “is to teach at a college.”

Then he offered a resounding endorsement of the new West Side facility for aspiring kitchen mavens.

“I would absolutely recommend this school to anyone considering the culinary arts.”

Matt Gallagher hands Parker Dieffenbach a piece of black forest cake as Robert Bogumil looks on during the grand opening of the West Side Career and Technical Center cafe in Pringle.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_TTL102116cafe1.jpg.optimal.jpgMatt Gallagher hands Parker Dieffenbach a piece of black forest cake as Robert Bogumil looks on during the grand opening of the West Side Career and Technical Center cafe in Pringle. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

By Mark Guydish

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Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish