There’s shaved ice, and then there’s shave ice. Shaved ice is what goes into sno-cones, the familiar treat based in granular bits of crunchy ice coated in day-glo fruity flavors.
Shave ice, on the other hand, is a reference to a particular variant of shaved ice: Hawaiian style. Shave ice is also thinner. It’s not crunchy. It’s more like…well, fluffy snowflakes that melt in your mouth. It’s snow, as opposed to sno.
Chilljoy Frozen Treatery is in the business of shave (not shaved) ice, as well as a host of other treats available at its mobile truck.
As it’s a novelty here in town, the easiest way to experience the shave ice difference is to order a bowl of the stuff, neat. You’ll choose a flavor to enhance the ice, and it’s a nice idea to choose more than one flavor, as the bowls are huge, and that adds a little variety. You can go all crazy with blue raspberry and grape, but pineapple and strawberry work well together. They’re not fake tasting, like in sno-cones. Instead, each spoonful delivers impossibly light and melty wisps of natural fruit-flavored sweetness.
After a purist’s starting point, you can move on and team the shave ice with ice cream. That’s an option, too. There’s an offering called Sunset Dreamsicle that uses the orange shave ice as a foundation with vanilla ice cream and mini-mochis. Or Chilljoy’s summer specials have included Strawberry Shortcake: it’s not the shave ice that’s strawberry-flavored. Rather, the strawberry contribution comes from the ice cream. It’s paired with cake-flavored shave ice, strawberry puree and whipped cream. Fresh for fall, Chilljoy just released a combo with pumpkin ice cream plus coffee shave ice and whipped cream.
Those who are afraid of new things can keep it traditional and hit the Chilljoy truck for straight ice cream, too. It serves Johnson’s, both in its shave ice combos, as well as in bowls and cones.
You can follow Chilljoy on its adventures using StreetFoodFinder and learn more at chilljoyft.com.