Delco Steaks wasn’t supposed to be here. Now it’s going to have six locations by the end of the year, writes Victor Fiorillo for Philadelphia Magazine.

It all started in pre-pandemic 2019, when Steven Reynolds, his brother Nick and Nick’s childhood friend John McKenzie talked about opening a restaurant/bar in Broomall—the Marple Public House at West Chester Pike and Sproul Road.

But there was no parking, so Marple Public House leased the former Chubby’s diner in front of their restaurant with its nice parking lot and turned the former diner into a stand-alone cheesesteak spot—Delco Steaks.

“There are plenty of pizza places around here that serve cheesesteaks,” says Steve. “But we wanted to focus on cheesesteaks. Better cheesesteaks.”

When Marple Public House’s March 2020 opening was devastated by the pandemic state lockdown order, the new cheesesteak shop, with its non-sit down status, became the major breadwinner.  

It didn’t hurt, either, that they offered a higher quality cheesesteak experience, earning it a Philadelphia Magazine Best of Philly Cheesesteak award in 2021. 

Today, Delco Steaks has a shop in Ridley, with more planned in Media, Audubon, and Lower Merion, across from St. Joseph’s University.

Read more at Philadelphia Magazine about the sudden success of Delco Steaks.

Philadelphia Cheesesteak Adventure takes a look at Delco Steaks.