The story of Shula's is the story of Don Shula, who is what they call the winningest coach in the NFL, with 347 career wins. From 1963 to 1996, when Shula was with the Baltimore Colts and the Miami Dolphins, he became one of only five coaches to win the Super Bowl two years in a row—the latter with the Dolphins. Furthermore, he also brought the Dolphins to 17-0 in 1972, which makes it the only undefeated season in the NFL on record. Not too shabby, huh?
What, pray tell, does this have to do with steak?
Imagine that someone with that level of dedication to excellence decided to open a steak house in 1989. And then another one. And then repeat until one opens nearby, in Center Valley at The Promenade Shops in May 2008. How could its mission be anything other than to exceed your expectations, every time you dine there?
“Winning isn't forever and failure isn't fatal.”
From start to finish, there's no way you'll forget where you are. You're escorted to your table with a football with six different Shula cut steaks printed on it; you'll also see them in the flesh on the steak cart, which is wheeled out to your table before you order. All over Shula's, you'll find evidence of the football motif and more specifically, the coach's successes, such as footballs emblazoned with the number of wins from his most noteworthy seasons, for example. The dining room by design pays tribute to that perfect 1972 season: there's a chair named and numbered for every one of the 70 players from that team. You can ask to be seated at, say, quarterback Bob Griese's table—he's the most popular request. You'll also find the quippy, everlasting maxims that permeate the consciousness of sports displayed on the walls, such as “lead by example,” “keep winning and losing in perspective” and Shula's favorite: “Winning isn't forever and failure isn't fatal.”
Naturally, sports lingo is used whenever appropriate. For example, Scott Craver is the Head Coach (elsewhere he'd be the General Manager) and the employees are Team Members. Here's how it breaks down. “We hold a daily pregame meeting with our team members both in the front and the back of the house to review guest comments from raving fans, and also if any penalty flags were in order from the previous day. We drill on daily food and service standard, and we look to perform a perfect service each day,” Craver explains.
Never fear. Despite the proliferation of sports language, this isn't a sports bar. There aren't multiple televisions competing for your attention and over-stimulating your senses. There is just one television at the bar—where you can incidentally dine from the full menu. Behind the closed doors of the four private dining rooms, you can set up a Super Bowl party or a photo slideshow on the televisions in all four of those rooms. In general, however, you are more likely to dine with the strains of Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett in the background than ESPN. Shula's is a splurge-worthy, classy kind of place, right down to the whiter-than-white tablecloths and the formal attire of its fleet of servers. In fact, so dedicated to service is Shula's that you'll receive a head server and a back server, so your food never sits and catches a chill, your water glass never goes empty, and your napkin never hits the floor when you get up to use the restroom.
“We have a dedicated, focused approach to white tablecloth fine dining,” Craver says. It's anticipatory, not aggressive; you should never be overly aware of the water glass getting refilled or the correct cutlery appearing or disappearing. It's what makes Shula's a popular and perennial choice for anniversaries, special events, bridal showers, baby showers—you name it.
Its location has been a boon, too. Shula's is part of a trend in the past decade, a newer paradigm for fine dining: a restaurant in a shopping complex—what developers call a “lifestyle center.” “The Promenade has really established itself as a third place—where you meet friends, shop, get dinner—and that's worked well with what we're doing here,” Craver says.
Regardless of whether you're stopping to dine before a movie or unwinding during a leisurely dinner after a day of shopping, Shula's is all about the steak, from start to finish. Yes, you can get some surf with your turf, of course. And there's a chicken dish, too. But most people come here because of the Shula Cut—a custom center cut of premium Black Angus steak, from Shula's own premium Black Angus cattle in Albany, Georgia. The cows graze on grass but are finished with corn. “That's what gives it its marbling,” Craver says.
“Hey, it's a steak house—go big or go home!”
In fact, the Shula Cut is a more discriminating center selection of beef; nine of its selections surpass the standards for USDA. Prime Cut and all ten exceed those of USDA Choice. Some of those markers call for superior muscling, which eliminates any dairy-influenced animals, and require that external fat on the animal is less than one inch. At the end of the day, it brings fine to medium marbling, rather than large swaths of it. “That even distribution means juice in every bite,” Craver says.
Your options start as small as an 8-ounce filet mignon ($39) and run all the way up to the 48-ounce Porterhouse steak ($84), with stops along the way at a 12-ounce filet, a 16-ounce New York strip, 20-ounce Kansas City strip, a 22-ounce ribeye and a 24-ounce Porterhouse. The steaks are seasoned simply with salt and pepper, seared on the grill, finished in the convection oven, and then rest. Right before service, the steaks are given a quick flash in the pan to heat them up again. By the time it arrives to your table, it's ready to go, and “the blood won't be spilling out all over the plate when you cut it,” Craver says.
Craver estimates they sell somewhere between 800-1,000 of them every weekend, and three or four people take the coach's challenge every week: eating the 48-ounce Porterhouse steak. Upon completion, your name goes up on the wall and you're a member of the 48-ounce club. “You see them get the meat sweats. Hey, it's a steak house—go big or go home!” says Executive Chef Ian Beard, chuckling.
As in any other steak house, the sauces are typically served on the side, such as the standard red wine-herb demi, peppercorn, béarnaise, and—here's something a little left of center, at least for the typical American steak house—a red pepper chimichurri. Speaking of the side, you have plenty of those shareable dishes to choose from, whether it's asparagus (your choice, steamed or grilled), potato gratin, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, a jumbo baked potato, or a creamy dish of crab mac
and cheese. “That's a signature,” says Beard, 32.
In case you are wondering, Shula's is indeed a chain restaurant, and the Shula family remains deeply involved in it. There are 16 steak houses and several other concept restaurants throughout the company, such as airport outposts and Shula Burger; the latter two are in Florida. This steak house, however, is locally owned by several high profile Valley residents including Kostas Kalogeropoulos of Meyer Jabara Hotels, whose local hospitality enterprises started with the Sheraton Jetport in the late 1970s and now include Courtyard by Marriot and the Hyatt-Place Bethlehem, along with the Crowne Plaza Reading, among others.
Although it's part of a chain, the Center Valley location distinguishes itself in a number of regards. First, this Shula's is a freestanding entity, unattached to or unassociated with a hotel. It's not located in Florida or another heavily touristed or urban destination, like many of its other steak houses. That changes the way people experience a restaurant, and what they expect from it. For example, here in the Lehigh Valley, people aren't really interested in stone crabs, Craver says. “Instead, we will do oysters on the half shell, which people go crazy for,” he says.
“Those smells would hit you when you walked in the door, and you knew it was going to be a great day in the kitchen.”
As you might expect, this Shula's sees a lot of repeat business from locals, and restaurants like to keep regulars happy. Chef Beard works directly with the Shula's corporate chef, Brian Vossler, to mix things up. “I work with my guys [including Sous Chef Rodney Rivera] to keep the menu fresh, creative and appealing to the local palate,” Beard says. His kitchen has freedom to create menus for the wine and beer dinners, banquets, hors d'oeuvres, and weekly lunch and dinner specials. “Currently, we are the only Shula's location that offers wine or beer dinners,” Beard says. And they utilize the expertise of Craver, who is also a certified sommelier.
Beard is a Pennsylvania native who was cooking in the kitchens of his native West Chester (Iron Hill Brewery, Turks Head Inn, Dilworthtown Inn), before arriving at Shula's four years ago. A graduate of the Philadelphia Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College, Beard grew up hanging out at his grandparents' house, where his grandfather was the Chief of Police and his grandmother, his ‘Nan,' put together home-cooked meals of every kind. “She'd start in the morning and go until evening and wouldn't stop. Lunch would go into dinner and then after I don't know, I think she slipped something into her 7-Up…I could never tell,” he says, laughing.
He continues indulging in nostalgia. “Those smells would hit you when you walked in the door, and you knew it was going to be a great day in the kitchen.” One might say the very same thing about Shula's.
