{"id":182035,"date":"2026-05-02T09:14:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T09:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/182035\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T09:14:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T09:14:28","slug":"wilsons-secret-sauce-chef-talks-gordon-ramsay-and-wawa-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/182035\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilson’s Secret Sauce Chef Talks Gordon Ramsay and Wawa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNews<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Steve Wilson, who was just featured on Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service, also talks Wawa and offers his expert grilling tips.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tSign up for The Feed. The latest on the city’s restaurants scene.\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Gordon<\/p>\n

Gordon Ramsay with Wilson\u2019s Secret Sauce owner and chef Steve Wilson in Upper Darby during the shooting of Gordon Ramsay\u2019s Secret Service (Image via Fox)<\/p>\n

Behind the Line is Foobooz\u2019s interview series with the people who make up Philly\u2019s dynamic bar and restaurant scene. For the complete archives, go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a lot of speculation and handwringing over the new Gordon Ramsay show, Gordon Ramsay\u2019s Secret Service, after it came to light that some of the restaurants involved had no clue that they were part of something that was going to be focusing on \u201cAmerica\u2019s filthiest restaurants,\u201d<\/a> as Fox eventually put it in promotional materials. One of the restaurants featured in the series is Wilson\u2019s Secret Sauce in Upper Darby, where Gordon Ramsay shot an episode of Secret Service in March<\/a>. That episode just aired nationally \u2014 you can catch it on Hulu soon \u2014 so we caught up with Steve Wilson, the owner of Wilson\u2019s Secret Sauce, to hear all about it now that the, well, secret is out.<\/p>\n

My name is \u2026 Steve Wilson and I own Wilson\u2019s Secret Sauce on Township Line Road in Upper Darby.<\/p>\n

The last time I had a day off was \u2026 never, mentally speaking. What does \u201coff\u201d mean exactly these days? Does that exist?<\/p>\n

I grew up in \u2026 Broomall. I\u2019ve lived in Delco all my life. I moved to Havertown in 2004 and opened Wilson\u2019s Secret Sauce in Upper Darby in 2018. We call this part of Delco \u201cUpper Delco.\u201d [Laughs]<\/p>\n

I learned to cook \u2026 after my mom and dad divorced when I was ten. She worked two jobs to maintain a house for five kids. So I tried to make an omelet and went from there. And I always liked to grill.<\/p>\n

My worst subject at Marple Newtown High School was \u2026 typing. I was the Class of 1988. Love is fun, sex is great, \u2019cause we\u2019re the Class of \u201988! [Laughs] Those were the days.<\/p>\n

Before opening Wilson\u2019s Secret Sauce in Upper Darby \u2026 I was a mechanic for 30 years. At some point, I changed jobs and went from six days a week to five days a week. My buddy and I always wanted to do the Garry Maddox Barbecue Challenge, so I used my new free time to do that. We took first in chicken the first year we did it and second in ribs the following year. Then my wife and I got together and started to do catering, and that turned into opening Wilson\u2019s Secret Sauce.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve Wilson and Kelly Wilson inside Wilson\u2019s Secret Sauce in Upper Darby the week before the Gordon Ramsay\u2019s Secret Service about them aired (photo by Kae Lani Palmisano)<\/p>\n

The single best dish I make is \u2026 actually salmon. I don\u2019t have it on the menu right now, but I do bring it in as a special. And around the holidays, I might sell 40 sides of salmon.<\/p>\n

But if you make me choose between my ribs and my brisket \u2026 I\u2019d have to go with the brisket. I sell a ton of brisket. It\u2019s so good. I wholesale it to restaurants like Barnaby\u2019s in Havertown and the Greeks in Narberth. The thing is, a lot of people do not eat pork. And our ribs are great. But a lot more people eat beef.<\/p>\n

I became a part of Gordon Ramsay\u2019s Secret Service \u2026 basically just after I got an email one day asking me if I wanted to take part in some new Gordon Ramsay show. I asked everybody at the restaurant, and we said yes. And that was pretty much it.<\/p>\n

One old menu item I really miss is \u2026 the Seabrisket, which won Best of Philly in 2022<\/a>. It was basically a brisket cheesesteak topped with saut\u00e9ed lobster and Cooper Sharp and special seasonings, served on a roll that is essentially garlic bread. It\u2019s part of the menu cut we did with Gordon Ramsay. We\u2019ll bring it back at some point, at least as a special. But lobster was going for over $50 per pound for what I was buying. And I was trying to make the menu more efficient and cost-effective. A sandwich that takes 20 minutes to make wasn\u2019t going to work. But if you want to order ten of them for catering, I\u2019ll take that order!<\/p>\n

If you only order one side dish at Wilson\u2019s Secret Sauce \u2026 get the baked beans. So, I make them vegetarian, but you would never know it. And then if you want to add brisket or another meat to it, you can. This way, vegetarians love it, but meat eaters can make it what they want. I don\u2019t want to eliminate people. I want to have things on the menu when you bring a vegetarian to my barbecue joint.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The brisket platter at Wilson\u2019s Secret Sauce in Upper Darby (photo by Kae Lani Palmisano)<\/p>\n

The best thing about Delco is \u2026 our toughness.<\/p>\n

The worst thing about Delco is \u2026 the traffic on Route 1 and Route 420.<\/p>\n

The mistake most home chefs make when barbecuing is \u2026 rushing. You have to have patience. It really is all about low and slow.<\/p>\n

Working with Gordon Ramsay on Gordon Ramsay\u2019s Secret Service was \u2026 a great experience. He has a job to do. When I met him, he looked at me as someone who was probably ready to fight. And instead, I cried. I broke. I\u2019m under so much pressure every day. I just want my family to be proud of what we\u2019re accomplishing. It\u2019s hard to step back and smell the roses, which is why we bring fresh flowers into the restaurant each week.<\/p>\n

The secret to good homemade barbecue sauce \u2026 is to avoid ketchup. Ketchup has like ten ingredients in it that you probably don\u2019t want in there.<\/p>\n

My favorite restaurants in Delco right now are \u2026 Pepperoncini in Havertown. He makes a bangin\u2019 pork chop. And I love the fettuccine Alfredo and Greek salad at the Westgate Pub.<\/p>\n

The last time I had dinner in the city was \u2026 on Mother\u2019s Day. We went to North Third.<\/p>\n

The last time I had a cheesesteak was \u2026 at Joey Merlino\u2019s new spot. It was really good! Too many people salt the crap out of their steak. You can always add salt. You can\u2019t take it away. I was recently training for the ACS Bike-a-thon, so I rode my bike from Havertown to Main Street in Manayunk to Kelly Drive to City Hall and then down Broad Street to Joey\u2019s place and then back again. A few months ago, I wasn\u2019t able to touch my toes. Now I can, no problem.<\/p>\n

I met my wife Kelly \u2026 in seventh grade. We went out in ninth grade. Then we went our separate ways, and at the age of 39, we got together for good. We have two kids, one together.<\/p>\n

Kelly\u2019s job at the restaurant is \u2026 pretty much everything. She does so much.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m not running a restaurant \u2026 I am golfing, biking, riding my Harley, taking a day trip to Wildwood, scuba diving\u2026 But mostly, I\u2019m working in the restaurant and serving the community. I provide food for a lot of recovery organizations and charitable events. We have a thing where you can come into the restaurant and pay forward $10, and I make sure that someone who needs food gets real food, a nice barbecue platter. We provide food to a lot of first responders. And when Ian was headed to Florida, I looked at Kelly and said, \u201cShould we go down there?\u201d So we loaded up a 14-foot trailer with pork and brisket and bleach and water and other supplies and drove down to the Fort Myers area and started feeding people and handing things out. It turned out that one of the people we were feeding was from where I grew up. It\u2019s a good feeling.<\/p>\n

The furthest I\u2019ve ever ridden on a motorcycle is \u2026 Niagara Falls. Kelly rides on the back. Somebody\u2019s got to rub my shoulders when I get sore. [Laughs] I have a Harley Ultra Classic \u2014 the big boy \u2013 and three other Harleys and an Indian.<\/p>\n

I got my first tattoo \u2026 in 1991, when I bought my first Harley. I got my most recent one when I won a contest on Preston & Steve, and they brought me into the studio and gave me an eagle\u2019s head on my left forearm between the NFC Championship game and the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

The biggest change that Gordon Ramsay made at Wilson\u2019s Secret Sauce was \u2026 slimming down the menu. I had 73 items. We went down to 13. And we are up to around 25 now. We have a lot of people calling and asking for things that were on the old menu. And it was really hard for me to take the burger off of the menu even though I didn\u2019t want a burger at my restaurant to begin with, but trying to cook ten to fifteen burgers at a time can make it hard to focus on other things.<\/p>\n

The publicity I\u2019ve received since word got out about Gordon Ramsay\u2019s Secret Sauce has been \u2026 overwhelmingly positive. There\u2019s been so much support. And I\u2019ve had a million views to my Facebook page in 90 days. So many customers have been coming in who never heard of us until they saw the stories about Gordon Ramsay being here.<\/p>\n

The best thing about the restaurant biz is \u2026 meeting and helping people. When I go down and cook in the streets of Kensington, people are so appreciative, and they need real food. My stepdad was an out-of-control drug addict, eating 80 Percocet a day. I learned all about AA and Al-Anon when I was 13. I\u2019ve seen so many good people go down from drugs. Hardworking people who don\u2019t have time to finish their physical therapy so they get the pills prescribed, and soon they are addicted to heroin. Most people don\u2019t start out wanting to stick a needle in their arm.<\/p>\n

The worst thing about the restaurant biz is \u2026 the uncertainty, the constant fight of food costs. Do I have to replace the compressor in my walk-in? Did my freezer go down? Did my brisket order just go up $800 from one week to the next? Then there are the delivery apps. I got rid of most of them but kept DoorDash. They perform well.<\/p>\n

When I get a bad review online \u2026 I think about it. I try to correct it, try to find out what happened on our end, what our side of the story is. But what I don\u2019t understand is why people go on Google and Yelp to complain instead of calling me. I\u2019m at the restaurant every day we are open. Just call me.<\/p>\n

My secret junk food obsession is \u2026 a Whopper. It\u2019s hard for me to drive past a Burger King without getting a Whopper with cheese.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The dining room at Wilson\u2019s Secret Sauce in Upper Darby (photo by Kae Lani Palmisano)<\/p>\n

When I want to relax \u2026 I take a bubble bath. No, really! Doesn\u2019t everybody? I have a Jacuzzi tub.<\/p>\n

One food I absolutely cannot stand is \u2026 liver.<\/p>\n

Our kids refuse to eat \u2026 the ice cream I buy, which is butter pecan, and the pizza I order from Drexel Hill Pizza in Broomall, which is a white ham-and-pineapple Hawaiian pizza.<\/p>\n

The last thing I ordered at Wawa was \u2026 a chicken salad Classic with American cheese, spinach, and onions. Wawa actually has good chicken salad. You get them to toast the roll, add American cheese, and then the chicken salad. Mmmm. So good.<\/p>\n

People would be surprised to know that I love to eat \u2026 red beets. I can open up a can of beets and tear that up!<\/p>\n

Five years from now, I hope to be \u2026 in the Keys.<\/p>\n

If you want to come work for me, you have to be \u2026 the kind of person who finds a $20 on the ground and picks it up and says, \u201cWhose is this?\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing you should never do when you\u2019re grilling is \u2026 use lighter fluid.<\/p>\n

To make the ultimate ribeye on the grill, you should \u2026 get the best steak you can, about an inch and a half thick. Get your grill as hot as you can get it while you let the steak sit out with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder on it. You want the steak to start sweating. And then just throw the steak on for two minutes, flip it and leave it on for two minutes, flip and turn it and leave it on for two minutes, and then flip it again and leave it for two minutes. You don\u2019t want to touch it too much. And you don\u2019t want to put the lid on, because you\u2019re grilling the steak, not cooking it in an oven. Add some butter to the top and let it sit.<\/p>\n

To make the ultimate burger \u2026 basically do the same process as with the ribeye, but you want to start with a really good blend of meat. Mine is brisket, short rib, and chuck. And I\u2019m not a medium-rare guy unless I\u2019m grinding it myself. You really don\u2019t know what kind of bacteria is in there. So I like to go safe \u2013\u00a0but still juicy.The best advice I ever got in this business was \u2026 don\u2019t open a restaurant. [Laughs]<\/p>\n

When someone tells me they want to open a restaurant, I say \u2026 how much do you want to buy mine for?<\/p>\n

Gordon Ramsay\u2019s Secret Service airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. on Fox and will then be available on Hulu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News Steve Wilson, who was just featured on Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service, also talks Wawa and offers his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[147,149,148,150],"class_list":["post-182035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby-headlines","tag-upper-darby-news","tag-upper-darby-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}