Parlor Sweetens Square Meals

At his 40th Harvard College reunion, Nick Pappas ’66 will be surrounded by doctors, lawyers, and investment bankers. But among his classmates, Pappas’ profession might be one of a kind.

After a quarter-century in the computer industry, Pappas left the business in 1994 and, the following year, started Lizzy’s Ice Cream in nearby Waltham.

Now, with a scooper in hand, Pappas returns to Harvard Square. “I just love to come back,” he said yesterday.

Nestled between Starbucks and the restaurant Cambridge, 1 on Church Street, Pappas’ store will offer exotic homemade flavors until 11 p.m. every day, starting later this month.

“Ice cream is more than a piece of candy for a lot of people,” said Pappas.

“You have so many images of people meeting for a date at the ice cream shop. Families keep going back to the same place year after year,” he said.

And for Pappas, ice cream is a family venture as well—he co-owns Lizzy’s with his wife, Sue Cornwall.

Janet A. Cahaly is the owner of the building that houses her own business, The Carriage House Salon, as well as Starbucks and—soon—Lizzy’s.

She said she rejected other businesses that sought to lease the site.

“We were approached by so many people—all of the usual things, Chinese food, cell phone stores,” Cahaly said.

But Lizzy’s, she said, “is perfect.”

“I was really looking for a family kind of attraction. Who doesn’t like ice cream?” she said.

“There really isn’t any after-hours place. In the summer it will be wonderful,” she said.

She explained that for late night movie-goers or for families in the area, Lizzy’s will be a “really nice addition” to the Square.

“The square is two separate areas. As a family you don’t usually go over to where Herrell’s is,” she said of the Dunster Street ice cream shop.

Pappas is also not very worried about competition from stores like Toscanini’s and Herrell’s.

“I have been going around buying flavors from people in Harvard Square and frankly, I like ours a lot more,” Pappas said.

One selling point of Lizzy’s is its wide variety. “We have soy-based ice cream,” Pappas said. “We try to cater to people with special dietary restrictions and we are careful with allergens.”

Unlike his Waltham store, which includes large spaces for groups to congregate, “the sitting-down-together thing won’t happen to much in Harvard Square,” Pappas said. “It’s kind of tiny.”

Waitresses at Cambridge, 1, located next door to the soon-to-be ice cream store, complained that throwing away their trash has become an arduous task since the space next to them was occupied. They used to leave garbage bags in front of the empty storefront overnight and the garbage collectors would pick them up in the morning.

“Now we have to run out when the trash car comes in the morning,” said Sonja Totten-Harris ’04.

In addition, she is a little worried that customers will choose not to eat the ice cream from the restaurant’s dessert menu once the new store opens.

She said that “we only serve one flavor”—Tiramisu from Toscanini’s.

—Staff writer Shifra B. Mincer can be reached at smincer@fas.harvard.edu.