One of my most favorite TV channels is Food Network. Over the years I have gathered many recipes from many different shows. I first learned how to make baklava by watching Two Hot Tamales, a show that use to be on way back in the 90’s. I would cook and “bam” up my food like Emeril. Martha Stewart taught me how to make the perfect hard boiled egg. I fell in love with Alton Brown and Duff Goldman. I think the Food Network influenced my cooking so much that once a girl I was babysitting said to me, “You cook like Paula Deen-with love and a lot of butter.” Awwww. 🙂
During one of my Food Network watching marathons, I stumbled upon some show that highlighted different local restaurants. This particular show happened to be talking about ice cream, snow cones, and shaved ice. They were reviewing a shaved ice shop that was popular in Hawaii. Apparently, its common in Hawaii to add ice cream to their shaved ice. Whaaaat?! I thought to myself, “Well, I’m never going to Hawaii, so I suppose I’ll never get the opportunity to try that.”
I was wrong. Well, partially. I still haven’t made it to Hawaii, but I did find a local place that makes Hawaiian shaved ice. That place is called Leilani Hawaiian Shave Ice.
Leilani Hawaiian Shave Ice has 2 local locations, but I visited the original shop off of Willow and Nees. I happened to stumble upon this place on my way to Trader Joe’s. I remember a friend telling me that she had this shaved ice before, and that they put ice cream on the bottom of the shaved ice. As I drove by, I knew I just had to try it.
I didn’t really know what I was wanting as I walked in, but their menu was pretty clear and when I saw the words “condensed milk,” I knew I had a winner. I ended up getting the Root Beer Cheer.
The Root Beer Cheer starts off with vanilla ice cream on the bottom, shaved ice with root beer flavor on top of that, and then the condensed milk drizzled over it all. Oh my goodness, I cannot tell you how good this was! It tasted just like a root beer float, but with a little extra vanilla creaminess added.
My son was with me as well, and he wanted to try a regular “snow cone” as he called it. He picked out 3 flavors, strawberry, blue raspberry, and cotton candy. After one bite he said, “It’s so soft!” So, let me talk about that for a moment. I have never had shaved ice that was that soft! It was fluffy-like I was eating clouds. I was extremely impressed.
It’s a little humorous in how Leilani got started, because it stemmed from a trip to Hawaii. They tried shaved ice on the island, and realized that there was nothing like that here at home. Similar to me watching a show about Hawaiian shaved ice, except well, they did something about it. 😉
The hours for the Clovis location are:
Monday-Thursday 12:30-9:00
Friday 12:30-9:30
Saturday 12:00-9:30
Sunday 12:00-9:00
Contact information:
1177 N. Willow Ave. Suite 106
Clovis, CA 93611
(559) 900-7950
Hours for Fresno location:
Monday-Sunday 12:30-9:00
Contact information:
1097 E Champlain Dr.
Fresno, CA 93720
(559) 840-2102
Find Leilani on Instagram and Facebook for yummy pictures and latest information.
Have you been to Leilani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice before? What’s your favorite flavor if you have? I can’t wait to try something with pink bubble gum, and the Dole Whip float. Yum!
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