whatever happened to Chinese restaurant pistachio ice cream w/ cherry pieces inside,back in the 70′s and now?

You may be referring to spumoni, around here it has black walnuts and cherries in it typically.

“Spumoni or spumone is a molded Italian ice cream made with layers of different colors and flavors, usually containing candied fruits and nuts. Typically it is of three flavors, with a fruit/nut layer between them. The ice cream layers are often mixed with whipped cream. Chocolate and pistachio are the typical flavors of the ice cream layers, and the fruit/nut layer often contains cherry bits.

This dish comes from Naples, and the three-flavored Neapolitan ice cream evolved from it.[citation needed]

It is an ‘original’ ice cream flavor, yet is considered unorthodox by today’s standards and is sometimes overlooked. The addition of candied fruit and nuts likens the spumoni flavor to that of a fruitcake. The fruit particularly makes spumoni taste clean and refreshing. It can be served alone, or with thin wafer or butter cookies.

Because of immigration influx, it is also very popular in Argentina[citation needed]. In the United States Spumoni ice cream can be found year-round, but if not, it is most likely available during the winter.

August 21 is National Spumoni Day”