Hansen's Sno-Bliz

Ernest Hansen built his ice-shaving machine himself in the 1930s — the first block-ice shaver, patented in 1950 — and opened this sno-ball stand in 1939 with his wife Mary. The machine still in use today is the one Ernest built in 1939. What it produces is different: snow fine enough to absorb syrup instead of sitting on top of it. No commercial equipment has matched the texture. New Orleans has always been a trading hub — Bulbancha, "place of many tongues" in Choctaw, was an important crossroads for thousands of years before the French founded the city in 1718. Hansen's carries that forward in miniature: homemade syrups in improbable variety, a hand-built machine no factory could replicate, and lines that wrap around the building on hot days because what Ernest made can't be bought anywhere else. The James Beard Foundation gave Hansen's an America's Classics award in 2014. A walk-up window on Tchoupitoulas Street is now a nationally recognized culinary institution. The stand is seasonal — open March through October. Cream of nectar is the signature order. Bring cash. Check hours before you go.