Bites Nearby: Summer Chill

Everybody has a favorite way to : running through sprinklers, guzzling down popsicles, or plunging headfirst into an ocean wave. My favorite method for cooling down is with an oversized scoop of ice cream, so here are two of my favorite places in Brookline to search out frozen goodies. Bonus--they've both got central air.

Emack & Bolio's

1663 Beacon Street, Brookline. Open Sunday through Thursday 11:30am-11:00pm; Friday & Saturday 11:30am-11:30pm.

This chain of ice cream hotspots has its roots, if you can believe it, right in Brookline, where the first opened in 1975 as a late-night hangout with creative renditions of homemade concoctions.

These days, $3.60 will buy you a generous scoop of popular flavors like Grasshopper Pie, Chocolate Moose, or Spacecake (cake batter ice cream with chunks of red velvet cake). I love the Chunk o' Funk, caramel ice cream studded with chocolate-covered pretzels and Oreo cookies. It's a blend of sweet and salty that will knock your ice cream-lover's socks off.

Smoothies like the Liquid Yoga ($5.50), made with soy milk, chai, banana, and nonfat vanilla yogurt, are all made without ice, ensuring that the flavors shine undiluted. The Citrus Cooler ($5.50), a refreshing blend of orange juice, lemon sorbet, raspberries, and sparkling water, is tart and fruity.

No need for something frozen? Indulge your sweet tooth with Emack & Bolio chocolates, like turtles, chocolate covered oreos and Twinkies, and very rich peanut butter cups. Or, open a bottle from the store's own line of microbrewed sodas, including ginger, vanilla, and root beer.

Berry Freeze

 273 Harvard Street, Brookline. Open Monday through Friday 12pm-11pm; Saturday & Sunday 11am-11pm.

As one of the many live-culture frozen yogurt places that became so trendy within the past year or so, is in a prime location for a visit during your stroll around Coolidge Corner. And their yogurt is spot on, with summery flavors like blueberry, pomegranate, and mango. Richer flavors like chocolate and coffee round out the offerings.

The fun part? Your dessert is completely customizable. Mix and match yogurt flavors to your liking, then add toppings ranging from Oreos to strawberries to cashews to Cocoa Pebbles to chewy little cubes of mochi. And because all orders are weighed at forty-five cents per ounce, you can get as much or as little as you like.

Honorable Mention

Finally, my honorable mention goes to () for their Nutella Hot Chocolate, . (Seriously--go get one right now.)

Is there another Brookline-based frozen treat that you crave when it's steamy outside?