FOND FAREWELL
Allentown restaurant will close Saturday after 91 years; regulars enjoy one last visit
Sitting in a cozy orange booth, surrounded by photos of times gone by, two sisters and their aunt stopped for lunch.
“We tried to come yesterday but it was too crowded,” said Peg Bartleson of Allentown.
As they waited, servers zipped back and forth, carefully carrying massive trays lined with cheesesteaks. The bar was packed and not a single seat was available.
Outside, a long line of people looking for a table stretched well into the parking lot. The gathering grew exponentially as the minutes passed.
“It’s sad,” said Helen Fenstermaker of Lower Macungie Township. “All the mom and pop places are dying out.”
After 91 years of making cheesesteaks, pot roast sandwiches and family memories, Allentown’s Brass Rail on Lehigh Street will serve customers for the final time Saturday.
Mark Sorrentino, who co-owns the restaurant with his sister, Pam Ray, said they will not seat any more people after 3 p.m. Saturday, and they are planning to close the restaurant for good at 4 p.m.
For those who have spent a lifetime working at the landmark restaurant, the final day will truly be a sad one.
Cindy Ebert of Wescosville started working at the restaurant as a teenager 45 years ago. She helped prepare salads. Over the course of her career, she’s marked many personal milestones at the restaurant, including celebrating her 40th birthday in the banquet room.
“This place has always treated me like family,” said Ebert, who is the restaurant’s office manager, “You don’t find that at chain restaurants. This place never felt like work to me. It’s family.”
Three generations of Sorrentino’s family have
owned the restaurant. Sorrentino and his sister took ownership following the death of their father, Richard Sorrentino, in 1996.
In 2020, the siblings signed an agreement of sale for the property with a developer, with the intention of finding a new location for the restaurant. But then came the pandemic and the weight of chronic labor shortages, supply chain issues, and historic inflation.
It became clear that continuing the Brass Rail — the way it was for so many years — wasn’t feasible anymore. They announced in late March that they would close the restaurant on June 4.
The news shook many in Lehigh Valley. The Brass Rail has been more than just a local restaurant.
It’s been a fixed point in people’s memories.
For Valley couples like Ann and Bruce Wlazelek of Upper Macungie Township, the “Rail” brought them together. Longtime Morning Call readers will recognize the name. Ann Wlazelek was once the newspaper’s health reporter.
“My 50-year love affair with my husband, Bruce, started with The Brass Rail on Lehigh Street (‘No. 2,’ as the employees called it because No. 1 was the original Brass Rail on Hamilton Street.) My sister took a summer job in the ‘dog house,’ a takeout section of the restaurant, where the famous Brass Rail cheesesteaks, hamburgers, doggies and pizzas were made to order. She would come home after work and tell our parents and me about the great food, wonderful manager and bartender, and a certain annoying prankster named Bruce.”
As a bad boy with dashing good looks, Ann Wlazelek knew Bruce was the guy for her.
“Soon after that, I took a job in the ‘dog house’ too, hoping to get to know Bruce better,” she said. “We weren’t looking for lifelong soulmates, but we found them at The Brass Rail. We were married May 5, 1973, about 1 ½ years after The
Rail brought us together. We lost count of the times we have been back at the restaurant with friends and family.”
The Brass Rail was the place to make family memories.
“My parents introduced us kids to the Brass Rail in the 1960s,” said Tracy
Whelchel of Macungie. “It was one of the few places Dad would take his family of seven to for dinner. Even then, we all knew there was great value for the money. All of my siblings stayed here in the Lehigh Valley. I moved out west, married and had my own family of seven. When we would
return home for a visit, we always had dinner as an extended family at the Rail.”
Lisa Luciano of Schnecksville said she and her sister, Tara Lieberman of Coopersburg, and their dad, Dean Diefenderfer of Allentown, have been going to the restaurant since “they were born.”
“Over the years, as we got older, it became the ‘go to’ place to meet for our dinners with our dad. We have had so many conversations over the years at ‘The Rail’ — all the big ‘life moments’ — our time to get our dad’s perspective and advice. I don’t think any of us ever actually need a menu when we go. Over the past weeks, we have gone there with our dad to have one last meal there together,” Luciano said.
The Brass Rail was also known for being a great restaurant. It was never fussy or stuffy — just comfortable and straightforward with food that matched. Cheesesteaks — with that signature red sauce — were a universal favorite along with their well-known pot roast sandwiches, “onion chips” and spaghetti dinners.
“Such great food at a literally unbelievably fair price. Keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll be back,” said Chris Hoenscheid of Emmaus.
The final weeks of the restaurant have drawn crowds, packing the parking lot and dining room with well-wishers wanting one last meal before The Rail closes. People have traveled from as far as Florida to make sure to have one last meal at the Brass Rail.
As the closing day drew closer, the crowds grew even larger. Sorrentino said Thursday night they had 34 groups of people on a waiting list to get in at 6:30 p.m.
“I couldn’t get them all in,” he said.
On Friday a long line — including Brenda Sweeney of Emmaus — formed at the door before its 11 a.m. opening. When asked how long she would wait to get a seat, she said “until I got a table.”
If plans clear their final approvals, the Brass Rail will be gone to make way for the first Lehigh Valley location of Royal Farms, a Maryland-based convenience store.
Is any chance the Brass Rail could return to another location, as was previously planned?
“I gotta figure it out,” Sorrentino said. “It’s just really hard to operate a business right now with the labor shortage and the costs of supplies.”
On Saturday after the doors close to diners for the final time, the Brass Rail will hold a private party for the staff. Sorrentino is proud of the legacy left behind by his family’s restaurant.
“We hope everyone enjoyed what we did for 91 years,” he said.