For LeRoy Butler, joining Tony Shalhoub at Lambeau for ‘Breaking Bread’ was more than just a great grilled cheese
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What does it take to get two of Green Bay’s most famous faces together for lunch at Lambeau Field?
Four slices of nine-grain bread, eight slices of Colby Jack cheese, a whole lot of butter, a sprinkling of shredded cheese and a shared love for the Green Bay Packers.
Actor Tony Shalhoub, the Emmy Award winner who was born and raised in Green Bay, and legendary Packers safety LeRoy Butler, the Pro Football Hall of Famer who played his entire career in Green Bay, sat down over grilled cheese sandwiches for the Wisconsin-themed episode of “Tony Shalhoub Breaking Bread” that airs at 8 p.m. Nov. 2 on CNN.
From one of the bench seats in an empty Lambeau Field bowl, The “Monk” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” star and the creator of the Lambeau Leap talk football, family and childhood memories over melted cheese and toasted bread. It’s as ooey, gooey and satisfying as you might expect — the television-viewing equivalent of comfort food.
“I have to tell you, this is the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had. Whether it’s the place, being here with you, the specialness,” Shalhoub says to Butler.
It’s what the six-part CNN docuseries that premiered Oct. 5 is all about, showcasing how food — homemade bread in particular — brings people and cultures together. As the host, Shalhoub travels to bakeries, kitchens and restaurants all over the world, including Iceland, France and Brazil, but one full episode is dedicated to his home state.
He also visits Fika Bakery & Coffee House in Egg Harbor, Sway Brewing + Blending in Baileys Harbor, the Ukwakhwa farm on Oneida Nation land near Green Bay and Uplands Cheese in Dodgeville. Viewers get to see him with family members in downtown Green Bay and all together at their Door County lake home.
The “Breaking Bread” research team, with an assist from the Packers, came up with the idea of pairing Shalhoub with one of his personal heroes. Butler jokes he didn’t even have to hear the whole pitch before he said yes.
He knew Shalhoub from “Monk” reruns and as Jack Jeebs in the “Men in Black” movies but had never met him until the two filmed at Lambeau earlier this year.
“I’ve met a lot of famous people before, like super famous, like Reggie White and Brett Favre. I was so starstruck,” Butler told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “And I’m never short for words. My assistant was like, ‘Uh, are you OK?’ I said, ‘No.’
“He’s different, because he’s from Green Bay and just that he knew who I was was overwhelming to me. I had a magnificent time. He’s just so gracious. He really is.”
Grilled cheese connects LeRoy Butler to his childhood, Packers playing days
Butler’s history with grilled cheese sandwiches proved the perfect fit for the show. Eating two grilled cheese before every Packers game became his ritual as a player, but they go back to his childhood when sometimes that’s all that was in the refrigerator to make a meal. He remembers his sister using a butter knife to slice from the block of government cheese given to low-income families in the 1980s.
“When I was young, in extreme poverty, the grilled cheese was like platinum,” said Butler, who grew up in Jacksonville, Florida.
His love for them stuck with him during his football career. Even when the Packers were playing on the road, the team would find a way to make sure he had them for his pregame meal — and made just the way he likes them. He’s a stickler for Colby Jack cheese and crunchy bread.
He tells a funny story of being in San Francisco for a game and former Packers coach Mike Holmgren asking someone to do whatever it takes to find Colby Jack for Butler’s grilled cheese, even offering to pay for it out of his own pocket if he needed to.
“Growing up in poverty, I thought it was just cheddar. That’s it. Just a yellow/orange-looking cheese. There’s only one flavor. So I got to the Packers in 1990 to find out they have over 340 different kinds (in Wisconsin), and I can mix it,” he said.
Butler, who lives in Milwaukee, frequently makes grilled cheese sandwiches for his seven children and six grandkids. He likes to add a little parsley on the cheese for Packers colors.
Their conversation at Lambeau Field was both emotional and lighthearted
He took Shalhoub to the 1919 Kitchen & Tap inside Lambeau Field for “Breaking Bread” to show him how to make a proper grilled cheese. He likes his with a lot of butter and some shredded cheese on top of the slices and a little more on the outside of the bread “to get the goo that I want.”
“This is a revelation,” Shalhoub says as he watches him.
Butler learned some things from Shalhoub, too. “He knows everything about bread. … Blew me away.”
It seemed fitting for the two to take their sandwiches into Lambeau to eat them. It’s where Shalhoub grew up going to Packers games with his dad and uncles as one of 10 kids, and it’s where Butler says he grew up as a man.
“Let’s talk about anything you want. Just go,” Butler said of their conversation in front of the cameras in a quiet Lambeau. “Otherwise, there’s 90,000 people in there, and if me and him was sitting there, we’d get mobbed.”
Butler was deeply touched to hear Shalhoub talk about his family’s history. His father, Joseph, came to Ellis Island on a boat from Lebanon at age 8 after he and his siblings lost their parents during World War I. It was a three-month journey that eventually brought him to Green Bay. His mother, Helen Seroogy, was a second-generation Lebanese American born in Wisconsin.
“It was very emotional, but it was uplifting,” Butler said. “To become a big star like he has, he’s put in the work.”
Butler, who is currently working as an executive producer on a documentary about his life, said he encouraged Shalhoub to consider doing the same about his family’s immigration story.
The two also laughed a lot during their time together.
“When you think about it, most people when they’re eating, you see smiles,” Butler said. “Go to any restaurant and any place where people are eating and talking … dinner and sports together. There’s nothing negative about that.”
Butler’s appearance in “Breaking Bread” comes during the same year he made a cameo in “Green and Gold,” the feature-length movie filmed in Door County and Green Bay that stars Craig T. Nelson as a Wisconsin dairy farmer and diehard Packers fan. He enjoys those kinds of projects and interactions. He says it’s “baked in the cake” for him.
“I love it. I think that’s the only way people can really know LeRoy Butler the person, if they can see me in different elements, different things. Not just football. Not just the Lambeau Leap.”
He has made a friend in Shalhoub, who lives in New York City and still gets back for Packers games with some of the season tickets that once belonged to his father. Butler knows the Shalhoub family is a big one though, so just in case he ever finds himself short …
“I told him from now on he’s on scholarship,” Butler said, laughing. “All he has to do is call me up. I can get him in the stadium. … He’s got a full ride.”
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 X @KendraMeinert.
