Union Hotel, De Pere - Tuesday November 20, 2018

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we decided to try another “city” supper club, the Union Hotel in De Pere.  While many of the establishments we visited had rich and long histories, the Union Hotel is close to the longest.  The earliest reference goes back to 1868 with the “Union” of course being a Civil War reference.  From 1882 to 1903, the Union House Hotel was owned by the Altmeyer family and then for four years by the Albert Kabat family. In 1918, it was sold to August and Antonia Maternowski, the great grandparents of the current owners.  Yes – 100 years in the same family.    The evening we were there, the 4^th and 5^th generations were running the bar and restaurant.

 

The bar is very cozy and excellently maintained in vintage décor.  Pictures validating the history adorn the walls.  The owners were very friendly and chatted with us for a while as we enjoyed our cocktails.  We discussed other longtime supper clubs in the area and, sadly, how many had closed.  Paul and the owner even reminisced about the late 70’s/early 80’s when Paul was a student at St. Norbert College in De Pere.  Paul commented that the Union Hotel was the place you may have gone when your parents visited, but it was too expensive for the average college student.  Dirty Dan’s, which featured 75 cent old fashioneds on certain nights of the week, was more his style.  The owner told us her mother made them cross to the other side of the street on their way home from school when passing by Dirty Dan’s!

We clearly could have sat at the bar and talked forever, but we eventually placed our food order and headed to the dining room.  There was a room with booths and another dining room with tables.  I ordered salmon with baby red potatoes and Paul had the bone-in NY strip with homemade hash browns.  Dinners included soup, salad and dessert.  I chose spinach with hot bacon for my salad, and a pumpkin bisque for the soup.  Both were excellent. The pumpkin bisque was very good, not too heavy which is always a concern.  Paul went with the minestrone, also very good.

Dinner also included a traditional relish tray with cheese spread, liver pate and ham spread and fresh homemade rolls.   Desserts (homemade carrot cake and chocolate pie) were boxed up and brought home to enjoy later.  All the food was really good.

 

I am certain we’ll be back to the Union Hotel.  It is an excellent supper club experience with great ambiance, service and food.