Article about Turkeyrama 1979 in July 2, 1979, McMinnville N-R/News-Register

 

Turkeyrama 1979 ad in July 2, 1979, McMinnville N-R/News-Register

 

‘FLYING SAUCER’ PASTRY at ROCKET CAFÉ of McMINNVILLE

‘FLYING SAUCER’ PASTRY at ROCKET CAFÉ of McMINNVILLE

“Most people know about those famous 1950 photographs taken on a farm between McMinnville and Sheridan, which inspired the McMinnville UFO Festival. They also inspired the “Flying Saucer” pastry – topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce, served at the aptly named Rocket Café near Linfield College until its closure in the 1980s.”

https://etypeproductionstorage1.blob.core.windows.net/$web/Production_Prod/Jobs/499/2022-10-27/310298/FlippingBook/News-Register_310298/6/index.html

Source: Fun Facts of Yamhill County, Meet McMinnville and Yamhill County 2022-2023, page 7

COMMENT

As a Linfield College student a Class of 1972) grad worked at the Rocket as a kitchen helper and dishwasher.

The grad describes the Flying Saucer as a “a shameful concoction of a butterhorn pastry topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream." The 'Saucer,' said the grad, came in two forms: 1) Flying Saucer (butterhorn only) or 2) Flying Saucer a la mode (butterhorn with  ice cream).

The grad balks at those who insist a Flying Saucer was always a butterhorn, ice cream and chocolate sauce.Perhaps the chocolate sauce was a person's “custom order," the grad said, but it was not what was on the menu.

OK! Let's go to the Rocket!

Let's go to the Rocket!

Originally posted June 6, 2008 — Text edited/rewritten and re-posted Nov 3, 2022

Let's remember the Rocket Cafe in Rocket Valley in McMinnville.

Apparently, it opened in the 1950s and closed its door in the 1980s.

While the Rocket no longer exists, it's remembered by many.

Where Print NW sits now at the corner of Linfield Avenue and 99W/Baker is where the Rocket Cafe lived. Address: . 1142 South Baker/99W, McMinnville. Phone: 472-2226. It was easy walk of a couple blocks from the Linfield campus.

For many years, Linfield; dining hall did not serve Sunday dinner to its students. So, eating off campus at dinnertime on Sunday was part of the routine. The Rocket was a popular Sunday dinner location.

What were favorite items on the Rocket menu? The Rocket Burger, Moon Rings (onion rings) and Missile Fries.

One frequent customer said the burger was "not round, but an elongated oblong to look more like a rocket. And, "A favorite low-priced item was the fried egg sandwich and a favorite budget beverage was a 'pine float' -- a glass of water and a toothpick."

Why was it called the Rocket?  That came from the fact Rocket brand gasoline was sold at the Rocket service station gas pumps in what was called Rocket Valley. Thus, Rocket Valley was home of both the cafe and service station.

Open 24-hours a day, it served breakfast, lunch and dinner any time you wanted. What could be "more finer" than the Rocket's good food 24-hours? All day, all night, what could be more handy? It was all at the Rocket.

Flying Saucer

And, there was the "Flying Saucer." One Linfield grad -- who worked at the Rocket as kitchen help and dishwasher -- describes it as "a shameful concoction of a butterhorn pastry topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream." The 'Saucer,' said the grad, came in two forms: 1) Flying Saucer (butterhorn only) or 2) Flying Saucer a la mode (butterhorn with ice cream).

The grad balks at those who insist a Flying Saucer was always a butterhorn, ice cream and chocolate sauce. Perhaps the chocolate sauce was a person's “custom order," but it was not what was on the menu.

Sometime during 1966-1970 or so, one of the waitresses at the Rocket was "Fay."

The grad who worked at the Rocket said their favorite order was Fay calling out "Rocket Burger, Missile Fries and Flying Saucer a la mode." 

Photos: Rocket Café drinking glass thanks for Art Larrance, Linfield Class of 1966. Ads from Oak Leaves yearbook and Lindex phone directory.

POSTCRIPT --Found online was this posting. The poster was seeking information about Rocket service stations and cafes. There used to be both in two Oregon cities McMinnville and Willamina. There also was a Rocket service station in Yamhill, Oregon. And there were apparently some 30 Rocket stations in the Portland, Oregon, area. Some of those 30 might have included McMinnville, Willamina and Yamhill. Apparently, the Tower Oil Co. and/or F. H. Tower owned the Willamina station. I assume either/or also had a role in the McMinnville and Yamhill stations. An Oct. 19, 1982, United Press International story with a Portland, Oregon, dateline said ==Tower Oil Co. will go out of the petroleum business Dec. 31, the company's president says. Charles E. Schafroth, Tower president, recently informed the company's 30 dealers in the Portland area of the decision but refused to comment on the matter apart from allowing a secretary to read the letter he sent to dealers. The letter said ''the current economy and market situation in our industry have combined to make it impossible for the corporation to continue to market gasoline and make a profit, even meager.''== An obituary, published in March 2008, in the McMinnville newspaper, said the deceased, who died at age 47, began his working career at Chevron Rocket Gas. It’s a guess that when Tower Oil quit selling its own gasoline, the Rocket name lived on with some stations selling other brands of gas, including Chevron. With this post are two photos, one for the McMinnville Rocket (more cars) and the other for the Willamina Rocket (one car). Unfortunately, they only show the cafe part of the operations."