Gymnast Simone Biles and her husband, newly signed Green Bay Packers safety Jonathan Owens, will soon be calling the Green Bay area home.
Gymnast Simone Biles and her husband, newly signed Green Bay Packers safety Jonathan Owens, will soon be calling the Green Bay area home.
GREEN BAY – Simone, we’re so glad you asked!
There’s nothing locals like more than helping a new Green Bay Packers fan get the lay of the land, and if she just happens to be an Olympic champion gymnast, well, hey, we kind of flip out.
When Simon Biles tweeted photos of herself and husband Jonathan Owens at Lambeau Field, where the former Houston Texans starting safety signed with the Packers on Friday, she did two things to instantly endear herself to the city and the fanbase.
She gave a robust, all-caps “GO PACK GO” and she asked for recommendations on places to eat and things to do in Green Bay. As luck would have it, Packers fans are really good at both of those things.
Here’s hoping she’s prepared for the avalanche of suggestions that immediately began pouring in on Twitter. Not surprisingly, food and drink took priority.
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Local dining institutions like Kroll’s East, Kroll’s West, Union Hotel, Maricque’s Bar, Redwood Inn, The Pancake Place, Sammy’s Pizza and Zesty’s Frozen Custard were all accounted for, and Pila’s Kitchen, Vintage Cantina, Toast & Co., Umi Sushi, Cheesesteak Rebellion and a host of other offerings were named, too.
You knew Chives Restaurant in Suamico, the favorite dining spot of former Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, was going to get mentioned. It did — often.
Biles and Owens are newlyweds (they married May 6 in Mexico and were on their honeymoon when Owens was signed), so nice date-night-out spots like Angelina, Republic Chophouse, Hinterland and Rustique Pizzeria are sure to be appreciated.
Supper clubs came up, of course, with one person noting, “real ones are worth the wait.” There was Green Tea for takeout, Kavarna for coffee and Kwik Trip for, well, everything.
Did somebody suggest cheese curds? Do you even need to ask?
Beer? Oh, come on. As one person wrote: “All the breweries.”
A few people took the shortcut and pointed her in the direction of Packers running back AJ Dillon, who has basically conducted a master class in how to embrace the local food scene (and Door County). Quadzilla himself chimed in, offering Biles and Owens some of his favorite places on his Dining with the Dillons Instagram with wife Gabrielle.
Beloved destinations like Bay Beach Amusement Park, Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary, Green Bay Botanical Garden, NEW Zoo & Adventure Park and Door County racked up all kinds of recommendations. People gave shoutouts for hairstylists and yoga studios, practical advice to “buy some warm clothing” and warnings to prepare to pick up the local Wisconsin accent.
If there was any doubt about how excited Green Bay is to welcome Biles and Owens and to share all the city and surrounding area have to offer, just start counting the exclamation points in the responses.
A tweet from Jason Meyer (@jaymeyer20) maybe summed it up best: “600+ responses and counting, all with the same level of pride and excitement to share their favs in the area. That’s why I love and miss Green Bay :)”
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: Green Bay welcomes Simone Biles, Jonathan Owens with long list of tips
