Mix-Ins (Steve's ice cream, Boston, 1975)

Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM
Sat Aug 3 23:56:00 UTC 2002


   The revised OED should be getting to "mix-in" any day.  It sounds like
"fixin," and it dates from the age of "Nixon."
   From John Mariani's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN FOOD & DRINK (1999), pg. 166
(ice cream):

   In 1973 Steve Herrell, owner of Steve's ice-cream parlor in Somerville,
Massachusetts, began blending his customers' choice of cookie and/or candy
morsels into his ice cream and called the item a "Mix-in," a copyrighted
trademark he sold with the store in 1977.  This idea, under other names
(including "Smoosh-in," the new term used at Herrell's next shop, in
Northampton, Massachusetts), became very popular in the 1980s in the new ice
cream shops opening in towns and suburban shopping malls.

   I checked USPTO records for the "copyrighted trademark."  It states a
first use of 1978!
   The BOSTON PHOENIX began in 1972, but the NYPL has it from 1982.  I'll
maybe go down to the LOC again and read it there.  The LOC also has only the
"third edition" of the book below.


THE BOSTON PHOENIX'S GUIDE TO
CHEAP EATS:
INEXPENSIVE DINING IN GREATER BOSTON
(Various authors.  The first page is an introduction for the "third edition,"
but that's not on the cover--ed.)
1975

Pg. 15 (The Blue Parrot):  Yugoslavian stewage ($2.75) is a different
matter--also quite filling but _less_ interesting than it sounds.  Containing
beef, pork, tomatoes, peppers, and onions on a bed of rice, it tastes like a
fairly ordinary beef stew.
(Compare "stewage" to "stoup"--ed.)

Pg. 59:  _Bob the Chef_ claims to be "The Home of the Soul Food," and it
admirably lives up to its motto.

Pg. 83:  One unusual way to begin your meal at The European is to order the
interesting pizza a la marinara (small, $2.25; large, $2.75; extra large,
$4.05).  This is pizza without cheese--perhaps something you've always wanted
to try.  It's good as an appetizer for a group of people; without the cheese,
pizza is less heavy than usual.

Pg. 224:  For a real ice cream treat, try _Steve's Ice Cream_ (191 Elm
Street, Sommerville).  Steve's homemade ice cream is perhaps the best in
town.  Cones are $.35 and $.55, and for $.10 each you can choose "mix-ins,"
consisting of M&M's, Heath bars, and many others.  If you want fruit mixed in
it costs $.10 more.  Sundaes are $.75 and $1.25, banana splits are $1.75, and
egg creams are $.40.  The portions at Steve's are large, and so are the
lines, so expect to do a little waiting.  It's worth it.



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