Hawaiian Shaved Ice – Tropical Sno
7905 Narragansett AvenueWhen we left Milwaukee on Saturday morning, we didn’t feel like making the trip all the way around the lake back to Kalamazoo. We decided to make a stop at J’s parents house in Oak Lawn.
We spent the day just kind of relaxing. It was still 100 degrees with the heat index. The kids played outside in the pool for a while and the adults just kinda vegged out.
J and I picked up a late lunch from one of our new favorite spots in Oak Lawn, Fry the Coop. We kind of skipped dinner because neither of us were hungry around the usual dinner time.
J was watching TV when she got an idea. Shaved ice. Something that used to be all over Chicagoland when she was growing up. It was a hot enough day that little shaved pieces of flavored ice sounded good so we started trying to find something nearby.
We had to go to the Googles to find a place. All the ones from J’s childhood are long gone and her parents couldn’t think of one nearby. We found a couple and tried calling ahead but both places went to voicemails. We decided to chance it anyway.
We picked Hawaiian Shaved Ice on Narragansett Avenue just to the south of 79th Street in the Chicago suburb of Burbank. The small shop is in an old strip mall on the east side of the road. The store windows had the graphics we were looking for but we were unsure if they were open. There was no sign in the window and I didn’t see anyone inside until I got out of the car and got closer.
The shop isn’t much more than a large U-Shaped counter with the ice shaving machines and four rows of flavors lined up against the back wall. There are no tables inside and just three outside if you want to sit in the heat. Two employees came out when the four of us walked in to get started on shaving down the large blocks of ice they pulled from the freezer.
There are three different sizes of cups. L and B both got the small one…and that’s still pretty large. They both ordered some kind of blue flavor. I believe B’s was a blue raspberry. I don’t remember what L got. Neither really knew how to eat the cup of ice. It was overflowing the cup on top and hanging over the sides. Both wanted to eat from the center but that just made a lot of it fall in to their laps.
I got a large orange shaved ice because orange is apparently the only color I like to eat. I always got Orange Mister Misty’s growing up and orange snow cones. I didn’t even look a the other flavors. I just got orange.
I never even saw what J got. I was trying to help B with his when she ordered but I know she was happy we made trek over to Burbank to find this place. It’s mostly nostalgia for her. She grew up with one of these very close to her house. The kids had never had one before so she was excited to show them the treat on this insanely hot day.
Is there a difference between Shaved Ice and Sno Cones? The short answer. No. It’s ice with an artificial flavoring. The long answer. Yes. Shaved ice is much thicker than the crushed ice used for sno cones. Does it make a difference? Not really. Both will have their die-hard defenders…J is clearly on the shaved ice side of the battle…but in the end, it’s a delicious treat on those days where the sun decides to crank it up to eleven.
SW Michigan Dining 