A Challenge to the Otherwise-Amazing Tropical Shave Ice Truck

​Seventh entry in our series where we promise to review, for better or worse, every "high-end" roach coach that visits the Weekly's world headquarters. Another truck visits next Monday--when will YOUR mobile food truck come? Inquire with Jessica Ford at jeford@ocweekly.com!

Look at this tower of cool, this promontory of multicolored chilled bliss. It comes from the Tropical Shave Ice truck, a bright-yellow harbinger of relief in this suddenly sweltering summer.

This mound is as flavorful as it looks: ice that slides onto the palate like water from a Klean Kanteen; the syrups, derived from fruits and cane sugar instead of any corn syrup madness. This particular beauty features coconut, melona and strawberry syrups, with condensed milk on top and red beans throughout: truly delicious, with flavors piquing the senses instead of lingering for too long like your average industrial raspado. If I could, I'd follow this truck all summer--but then what?

I could really go for some garlic shrimp right now...

​Tropical Shave Ice should sell a lot for the next couple of months, not just because of their great offerings but also because the owners are nice people. And that's why I hope they have a plan for the winter months, when the Southern California palate might not want to try shave ice, when we seek slightly more filling entrees instead of numbing snacks.

May I be so bold and suggest to Tropical Shave Ice that they slowly start incorporating Hawaiian dishes? A plate lunch, for starters? Maybe Spam musubi as snacks? Garlic shrimp? Even a loco moco? Hawaii, after all, is one of the few places in the United States where the food truck phenomenon is indigenous instead of some hipster-fueled fad. There is already an LA-area luxe lonchera doing this, but the more, the merrier, I say!