Road Trip #11 - La Crosse, WI

Wednesday, June 24th

Today we crossed the border into Wisconsin to surprise my cousin Chad. We attended his graduation from his Fellowship in Oncology and Hematology from Gunderson Health System, formerly Gunderson Lutheran Medical Center. We celebrated with dinner at the same place my family celebrated his Residency in Internal Medicine three years ago.

The Dr. Chad Fan Club after graduation

The Pizza Doctors is located in downtown La Crosse and is uniquely themed to cater to the medical community. As soon as we walked into Admitting, we paid for our Mid-Day Check-Up Lunch Buffet since we arrived before 4 pm. After 4 pm it becomes Exploratory Surgery for a slightly higher price. Children ages 4-11 pay $0.70 for each year old. You could buy your own pizza, hoagie, or Pre-Op (appetizers), but we stayed with just the buffet. One Local Anesthetic (soda) is included with the buffet. Refills are extra, as is General Anesthetic (beer).

Admitting where we paid for our lunch buffets and got sodas. (Note: Soda does not come in IV form!)

We started with salads to get something green in our bodies before gorging on pizza. There were enough veggies to choose from that even Six ate something green.

A view of the Emergency Rooms (bathrooms), Operating Room (kitchen), Admitting (cashier), Salad and Pizza Bars

Retractors, Scalpels and Tongue Depressors

Suction

As we finished our salads, but before we could get up to check out the pizza on the line in the warmers, waiters and waitresses came around offering up the freshest pizza from the ovens. Honestly, with the roving pizza wait staff, I never left my chair to get food during the rest of our stay. The wait staff even came around asking what pizza we would like to try next and had the Operating Room whip up the next creations.

Our favorites included: The Doctor Limpet (crab flakes, alfredo sauce and mozzarella cheese), The Doctor Foghorn-Leghorn (tangy barbecue sauce, chicken, onion and cheddar cheese), The Doc Holiday (turkey, stuffing, gravy and cheddar cheese), The Doctor Ziffel (bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and mozzarella cheese), The Freudian Slip (bratwurst, sauerkraut and cheddar cheese), The Doctor Wimpy (beef, bacon, pickles, onions, lettuce, tomatoes and cheddar cheese), The Doogie Howser (cheese sauce, elbow macaroni, more cheese), and even the kids liked The Young Doctor Kildare (broccoli and cheddar cheese). They made a chili cheese dog pizza that is not listed on their combos and it was delicious! There were 15 other pizzas on the menu that were also good. We realized a little late in the game that we could get one or two slices and share bites among the table. Everyone wanted to try all the offerings, but after a few slices, our bellies started to fill up.

Pizzas on the buffet line

Then came the dessert pizzas! The pizza crust was the same, or chocolate flavored, of course without regular pizza sauce. I did wish the crust was a bit more sweet or moist. The toppings were rich and we happily shared small slices around the table. Our favorites included: The Doctor Macintosh/Keen (apple/peach cobbler), The Doctor Double Stuff (marshmallow creme, oreos and mini marshmallows), and The Brownie (chocolate pizza crust, chocolate sauce, chocolate chips and powdered sugar).

The girls' favorite dessert pizza had a chocolate crust, chocolate pudding, crushed oreos and gummy worms.

The girls got tired of the adults taking time eating all the varieties of pizza and catching up. So they played in the kid's room. I didn't go to the door, since the glass walls made it easy to see the kids playing inside. If it wasn't called the Waiting Room, may I put that in your suggestion box? Very clever idea to have a play room!

We could see the girls playing in what I'll call the Waiting Room from our table.

The dinner ended too soon, as we had to get back to Minnesota that night. We are very proud of you Dr. Chad! Thanks for introducing us to a fun pizza buffet!