Luckily, there are more than enough cool treats to go around, from fizzy cocktails and chilled noodles to playful popsicles and iced lattes.
Tizo’s Pops & Ice Cream
Roberto Godinez knows a thing or two about beating the heat. Growing up in Aguascalientes, Mexico, he made popsicles with his family — a tradition he brought with him to Oklahoma City, where Tizo’s Pops & Ice Cream became the first Mexican popsicle and ice cream shop in the state. Today, the sunny southside shop keeps Godinez’s family tradition alive, featuring 80 flavors of scratch-made popsicles in fun and fruity flavors like avocado, blackberry-cheese, rice pudding, coconut, mango with condensed milk and pine nut. There are also non-dairy popsicles, like cantaloupe and michelada, and more than 20 flavors of ice cream.
Clarity Coffee
Always a harbinger of hotter weather to come, the Clarity Cool Down is a summertime staple at Clarity Coffee, which now boasts locations downtown and in the Wheeler District. Made with cold-brew coffee, brown sugar and oat milk, the icy slush is the most quenching way to caffeinate in the summer months.
Burger Punk
For cold-brew with more of a kick, check out the Turbo! at Burger Punk. Similar to Clarity, it’s a slushy made with cold-brew coffee, but the similarities end there. At both Burger Punk locations, the signature staple adds Evan Williams Bonded bourbon, coconut cream, Xocotatl mole bitters and vanilla. For something even more refreshing, upgrade to the Turbo Twister!, which blends the whole thing with vanilla soft-serve.
Water’s Edge Winery
Fortunately, there’s no shortage of ice cream in our fair metro, from the Americana comforts of Roxy’s Ice Cream Social to the whimsical innovations at Boomtown Creamery. But there’s nothing quite like the wine-infused ice cream at Water’s Edge Winery in Moore. In addition to crisp and refreshing wines made on-site, like Gewurztraminer and Pinotage, the winery uses its vino to make wine slushies and wine ice cream, the latter of which is impressively creamy and fruity.
Tiny Bubbles
Among the most anticipated openings of 2024, Tiny Bubbles finally popped the cork on its wine bar in the Shoppes at NorthPark. And just in time to quench the masses with its POP It Like It’s Hot, a Prosecco-based cocktail with Lillet Blanc, sparkling wine, Topo Chico and mini popsicles from Wondervan Pops.
El Coyote
Frozen margaritas are a classic go-to, found on many a menu, but frozen horchata is the kind of icy novelty you won’t find just anywhere. Both are on the menu at El Coyote, and the frozen horchata — made from scratch with rice, cinnamon, and sugar — is particularly well matched with the spices from the kitchen. It’s available as is, or with a shot of rum or tequila.
Good For A Few
In case palomas weren’t naturally refreshing enough on their own, Good For a Few ups the ante with sorbet. The new speakeasy-style bar in the Plaza District is featuring a paloma variation this summer called La Cantinera, made with tequila, mezcal, black currant liqueur, lime, grapefruit, Squirt soda and the grand finale: pomegranate sorbet with lime zest, using a sorbet from Farm to Table.
Goro Ramen
Ramen, typically, is confined to colder weather, when warming bowls of hot broth brace against winter. At Goro Ramen, though, ramen is an all-season comfort food, as evidenced by its seasonal chilled ramen, available in the summer months. In lieu of hot broth, it’s a broth-less bowl of chilled noodles with sesame dressing, shrimp, surimi, mustard greens, negi (Japanese green onions) and fried shallots. Pair it with the Tokyo Vice, a blend of frozen strawberry-yuzu daiquiri and frozen chai colada.
