Category:Brass Rail Restaurant

The Brass Rail is a restaurant located at 3015 Lehigh Street in southwestern Allentown. It was founded by Philip Sorrentino in 1931 who opened it $80 as a hamburger stand. The business was going to be called "Phils Lunch", however a friend of Sorrentino recommended "The Brass Rail".

In 1937, the original hamburger stand was doing well enough to move to a larger facility at 1137 Hamilton Street. The new location was first built as a home in the 1880s. In 1919, it was converted to a buisness, the first floor becoming an electrical appliance shop. The new location featured a bar room, dining room, and a doggie shop in the front window. The Biggest year in Brass Rail history was in 1937. This was the year Phil introduced Allentown to it’s first steak sandwich. It started with Rudy Preletz, owner of Rudy's Hotel in Bethlehem, introduced the steak sandwich to the Valley. It had been suggested to him by Tom Lamonica from Phillipsburg.

Sorrentino apparently brought the idea to Allentown in 1939. The window grill in the front of the Brass Rail was the focal point of what might be called a steak sandwich craze. So popular had the steak sandwich become that Sorrentino had it down to an assembly line production. It was estimated in 1946 that the Brass Rail sold 500 steak sandwiches on an average day. Special orders of up to 400 steak sandwiches could be prepared for a party or other social event. It was little wonder that The Morning Call in the 1940s called Sorrentino "the steak sandwich king of Allentown." By 1951, business had become so good that Sorrentino added an extension that doubled the Brass Rail's size.

In the spring of 1961, Sorrentino purched the property at 3015 Lehigh Street. The property was initially constructed as a private home in the 1920s. Then in 1953 Earl Glass purchaced the property and added an addition to the Lehigh Street side of the home, turning part of the home into an ice cream stand, Glass's Fresh-Maid Ice Cream Stand. Glass and his family lived in the residence part of the building. In early 1960, Glass converted the property and the entire first floor of the home was renovated, turning it into as restraunt. It opened in September 1960 as the 3 Rose Restaurant. However, that buisness was short lived and Glass sold it to in March 1961 for $91,000, who performed additional modifications. It opened as the second Brass Rail Restaurant in May 1961. In 1975 Phillip Sorrentino retired and ownership of the Brass Rail was passed on to his son Richard Sorrentino. However in January 1996, Richard Sorrentino passed away suddenly and control as passed on to his son Mark, Sorrentino,.

In January 2001, the Hamilton Street Brass Rail was closed In December 2020, it was announced that the Brass Rail's Lehigh Street location would be closing and the business will be relocating. The new location, however, was not announced nor when the relocation would be taking place. On March 30, 2021, it was announced that the Brass Rail on Lehigh Street will be closing on June 4. The restaurant had been looking to relocate, but apparently that didn't work out, According to Mark Sorrentino, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the buisness found it was very difficult to staff the restraunt, and the costs of doing buisness, as well as finding a new location were untenable.

After the buisness closes, the building will be torn down, and a new Royal Farms convenience store will be built at the site. The origional location of the Brass Rail at 1137 Hamilton Street has been vacant since 2001. The founder of the Brass Rail, Phillip Sorrentino passed away living in Florida in July 1997.