Former Miami Dolphins coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Don Shula may have complained about Philadelphia's cold weather when he stepped off the plane today, but he certainly didn't complain about the food. "As soon as I got here, the first thing I ordered was a Philly steak sandwich," Shula said. "I'm a meat-eater, and that's just a good sandwich." Shula lists the Philly steak sandwich as his favorite item on the menu of Shula's Steak 2, the 2-year-old University City restaurant he was on hand to promote last night at the Sheraton University City Hotel's Grand Re-Opening Celebration. The celebration -- which also featured Philadelphia Mayor John Street as a guest speaker -- marked the culmination of three years and $5.5 million of renovations to the Penn-owned hotel. About 400 people crowded into the Sheraton last night to sample the buffet, listen to the string quartet and rub shoulders with the NFL legend. Although Shula has been out of coaching for half a decade now, his luster has not faded. "I'm thrilled to meet coach Don Shula," Street said last night. "This is just the highlight of my day for sure." Street spoke of the renovations and how they fit into his grand scheme of "making Philadelphia a better place to live." The mayor even talked about how Shula's Steak 2 fit into his program for making the city more physically fit. "I'm trying to tell people that good health and physical fitness is not inconsistent with good eating," Street said. Shula, meanwhile, celebrated Philadelphia and praised Super Bowl champion coach Dick Vermeil in his time at the podium. He also discussed his famed coaching career. The Philadelphia branch of the restaurant -- one of 15 steakhouses franchised by Shula -- holds special meaning for the longtime National Football League coach because Philadelphia was the site of his NFL-record 325th victory. Shula was carried off the field in that record-breaking victory in 1993, just as he was when the Dolphins closed out the NFL's only perfect season in 1972 with a Super Bowl VII victory over the Washington Redskins. "Those were two great rides that I've had in my coaching career," Shula said. Shula's time as a coach came to an end in 1995, when he retired from the Dolphins with 347 victories. But although Shula, as vice chairman of the Board of Directors for the Dolphins, remains attached to football, he still misses being on the sidelines. "I knew that when I stepped aside, I was going to miss gameday, and that's what I miss more than anything else," Shula said. "There's nothing you do to replace what happens on Sunday afternoon between one and four o'clock." The former Dolphins and Baltimore Colts coach also alluded to his plans to start another Shula's steakhouse franchise downtown next year. Shula now has a grandson living in Philadelphia, so another branch in the City of Brotherly Love makes even more sense to the former coach. Shula's Steak 2, however, was not the only part of the University-owned Sheraton's improvements. All 374 rooms in the hotel were renovated, and five new businesses opened within the hotel. Additionally, two new rooms were constructed: an Executive Boardroom for small meetings and the Palmaire Ballroom, the site of last night's celebration.
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