5 tasty morsels about De Pere we never knew until we watched 'John McGivern's Main Streets'

"John McGivern's Main Streets" sure packed a lot of De Pere into 25 minutes during Thursday's episode devoted to the only city in Wisconsin with two separate school districts.

McGivern and co-host Emmy Fink showed off what they discovered during three days of filming last year for the travel show that airs on PBS Wisconsin, and let's just say they got around.

Fink hit the Fox River State Recreational Trail and St. Norbert College, where we learned the first class in 1898 had just four students. McGivern roasted Mexican coffee beans at Luna Coffee Roasters with owner Mark Patel, who gave a nod to Syble Hopp School with his T-shirt.

They discovered an alley that's also an art gallery and showed viewers the industrial machinery and components The C.A. Lawton Co. Foundry makes, with some castings weighing up to 20,000 pounds. They learned how to navigate the Fox River lock system, and they teased "the next big thing in De Pere," the Mulva Cultural Center expected to open late this summer.

What's a visit anywhere without checking out the food options, right? Here are five tasty morsels we learned on that front from watching the show.

Seroogy's: 'It all started with a batch of fudge'

Co-owner Joe Seroogy gave a quick history lesson of his family's chocolate company founded in 1899. Great-grandfather Richard, who got his start in the restaurant business, made a batch of fudge one day and put it out on the counter for 5 cents a piece.

"And it sold like crazy," Seroogy said. "It all started with a batch of fudge."

Today, Seroogy's makes 243 different kinds of candies, including toffee, made from a recipe that dates to 1832 in England. It's the oldest recipe used at the business.

"It's the best toffee in the world," Seroogy said.

Union Hotel: No wonder that basket of homemade rolls is so good

The Union Hotel & Restaurant is well-known as a supper club gem, but did you know it's also the oldest continuously running hotel and restaurant in Wisconsin? It dates back to the 1860s when people lived at the hotel, one guest for 40 years.

The Union's signature relish tray got its close-up, and we learned the homemade rolls are made from great-grandma's recipe.

Nicolet Mill: A sweet connection to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Founded in 1892, the mill makes specialty papers for food packaging, construction and technical work, but who knew that includes the round brown wrapper you peel off to eat your Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

The Fox River: Home to its own fast food restaurant

White American pelicans spend their winters in Mexico and the Gulf Coast and then return to the Fox River in De Pere in the summer, where the small islands and sandbars are good for building nests.

"What they really love is to eat. They love to eat fish, and they have figured out that fish love this side of the dam, so what this is, it's like like a pelican fast food restaurant, "McGivern said.

Ruth's Marketplace: This is not your father's college cafeteria

St. Norbert College's dining service housed in Michels Commons got its own cooking segment, as campus executive chef Josh Swanson enlisted McGivern to help him whip up Mongolian beef.

But it was also an inside look at the operations there. Swanson and his crew make 2,000 meals a day, everything from M&M's pancakes to a Mean Green Detox Salad to a Buffalo chicken grilled cheese sandwich. No wonder Ruth's has been voted by students as No. 1 in college food in Wisconsin and No. 4 in the country.

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Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert. 

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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: 'John McGivern's Main Streets' in De Pere: 5 tasty things we learned