ROTTERDAM — You no longer have to head to Philadelphia if you have a hankering for one of its famed cheese steak sandwiches.
Joe DeLorenzo will serve you one right on Altamont Avenue in Rotterdam at his new restaurant, Cheese Steak Heaven.
“We use top of the line sirloin and we bring in Philly Rolls from Philadelphia that made the Philly Cheese steaks famous, DeLorenzo said.
DeLorenzo has been in the restaurant business for some 40 years, opening up places like Scooters, Park Lunch and Ernie D’s. He generally sells them shortly after opening them and getting them up and running but Cheese Steak Heaven has proven to be such a success he is planning to hang onto it a while and is looking to expand.
One possibility he is exploring is franchising the name and concept in nearby cities like Amsterdam, Burnt Hills and Schenectady.
“Business has been great here and we are looking to expand at this location and beyond,” he said.
His customers are from all walks of life: young and old, professional and working class and his prices are “moderate” he said. In just nine months, he said, many of his customers are repeats.
He picked the cheese steak as a specialty because nobody else in the area is doing it.
“Schenectady is loaded with pizza and Chinese places so I figured I would try something different,” he said. “I was pleasantly surprised to learn there are a lot of Philly Cheese steak fans in this area.”
In addition to the namesake Philly Cheese steak, DeLorenzo features a number of Italian specialties like meatball parmesan subs, Italian sausage and peppers, cold subs, burgers and dogs and hot roast beef sandwiches made with eye round cooked onsite.
He also serves breakfast sandwiches all day long.
But the specialty remains the Philly Cheese steak.
Cheese Steak Heaven is located at 1307 Altamont Ave. attached to the Runway Express gas station across from WalMart. It’s open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
