Mardi Gras beads glimmer as they dangle from the tree branches that shade over the service window at NOLA Snoballs.
Maureen Ehrlicher sits at that window during the summer days — and other times of year, if the weather is above 70ish degrees or if someone asks nicely — ready to serve up the summer treat of her hometown.
Ehrlicher moved to Dallas 33 years ago for her husband’s work. They moved to Winnetka Heights because — like a true New Orleanian — the only thing he really required in a home was a “usable front porch.”
While Ehrlicher had a career in sales and “a bunch of other things,” and was a substitute teacher for the first few years of her retirement, she found herself “looking for something to do” four years ago.
NOLA Snoballs was the obvious endeavor.
“I wanted to have my own business, and I just love snoballs,” Ehrlicher says.
Snoballs were made famous by New Orleans shops just like Ehrlicher’s. But while the sticky, syrupy paper cups topped in rainbow ice may look similar to a snow cone, any New Orleanian would balk at the suggestion that the two are the same.
The difference, Ehrlicher says, is in the ice.
“It’s shaved ice, not that crunchy, yucky snow cone ice,” Ehrlicher says. “It’s made from a Southern Snow Machine from New Orleans.”
The Southern Snow Machine is a staple of any legit snoball shop, she says. For each snoball, soft ice falls from the whirring machine and Ehrlicher uses a plastic cone to shape the signature dome shape.
Ehrlicher makes her own simple syrups with real sugar and gets flavored concentrates delivered from shops in New Orleans as well as Oklahoma.
Tiger’s blood, strawberry, blue coconut and piña colada are the most popular flavors, she says.
Customers have the option of adding toppings to their snoballs ranging from condensed milk to chopped pickles, and cream flavors are made with evaporated milk. Ice cream or cheesecake stuffings further distinguish the indulgent snoball from a snow cone.
Ehrlicher’s authentic snoballs have attracted New Orleans transplants who stop by to get a taste of home and, oftentimes, become regulars at the shop.
But in other ways, Ehrlicher has adjusted her menu to reflect the community her shop is in, offering toppings you would “not normally ever” see in a New Orleans shop.
“When I got (to Jefferson Boulevard), there was this large Hispanic population, and they would ask for things like Tajín and chamoy, so I started adding it,” Ehrlicher says. “It keeps people coming back, and I try to do what the people want.”
The shop is a straightforward operation: Ehrlicher looks out over Jefferson Boulevard, ready to take an order, with some New Orleans-themed artwork decorating the walls, and snoball equipment filling nearly every corner of the small space.
While her niece or nephew sometimes drop by the shop to help out, Ehrlicher says it mostly sustains itself, and she almost always holds down the fort solo.
“It’s not much of a show,” Ehrlicher says. “But I run it.”
In the fall, NOLA Snoballs sets up shop at the Texas Discovery Gardens during the State Fair of Texas. Those few weeks pay the shop’s rent through the winter, she says.
The shop is closed during that time, but any other time the weather is above 70 degrees, Ehrlicher will be waiting at her window.
She opens at 2 p.m. and closes at 7 p.m., but if she gets a call from someone on the way, she has no problem staying open a few extra minutes to provide them with a sweet treat.
The shop is a labor of love, one she says she will do for as long as she keeps finding joy in it.
“I call it a hobby, but my daughter always says ‘no, it’s not a hobby, it’s a business.’ And it is a business, but I enjoy it,” Ehrlicher says.
