6 spots around Las Vegas Valley to cool off with shave ice
It’s a simple, tasty way to cool off as temperatures soar. But first, a brief language lesson. The Hawaiian treat featuring ice shavings flavored with syrup is called shave ice, not shaved ice (though the latter is often used). Here are six purveyors across the Las Vegas Valley serving Hawaiian shave ice or other treats built with ice shavings.
— Island Sushi & Grill, 9400 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 103, islandsushiandgrill.com. To build your shave ice, you can choose up to five flavors from nine options, including banana, li hing mui (sweet-salty dried plum) and guava. You can also add on vanilla ice cream, li hing mui powder and condensed milk (a very Hawaiian thing to do).
— Iwalani’s Shave Ice. This family-owned food truck, open since 2012, makes its shave ice with pure cane sugar and Hawaiian flavors. Visit streetfoodfinder.com/iwalanis for the truck’s schedule.
— Lokuras, 3685 S. Decatur Blvd., Suite 19, and 9859 Deer Springs Way, Suite 140, lokuras.com. Lokuras serves raspados, or Mexican shave ice, in several flavors, with fruit or ice cream, or “loko”-style loaded with fruit, tamarind candy and choice of syrup.
— Magnolia Ice Cream & Treats, 3890 S. Maryland Parkway, magnoliatreats.com. Magnolia has four locations on Oahu and one in Vegas, the Ninth Island. Shave ice flavors range from banana to lemon lime to guava. Toppings include lychee jelly and gummy bears. Magnolia also serves halo-halo, the Filipino shave ice with fruits, sweet milk and ice cream.
— Meowee Wowee. This truck has a summer 2023 location by the splash pads in Mission Hills Park, 551 Mission Drive, Henderson. Build-your-own shave ice features choice of three flavors (from more than two dozen), plus add-ons like mochi, tajin and li hing mui powder (pickled and ground plum skin). Visit meoweewowee.com.
— Sul & Beans, 4284 Spring Mountain Road, Suite 103, sulandbeans.com. Bingsoo, the milky Korean take on shave ice, is flavored or topped here with green tea, Earl Grey tea, injeolmi rice cake, Oreos, strawberries and more.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram and @ItsJLW on Twitter.