🍋 Peak-Season Pick: If you find yourself in Miami during the summer, you might feel like your face is melting off from how intense the heat and humidity can be. Thankfully, we Miamians know a thing or two about keeping cool, and one of the tricks is to order a very large icee from A.C.’s Icees. The A.C.’s truck has been around forever, parked in the same exact spot in Coconut Grove’s Kennedy Park. My order: an off-menu mix of lemon and piña colada flavors—the perfect fusion of tart and sweet.

🐠 Peak-Season Pick: While Miami’s most famous beach is South Beach, the beaches of “The Key” (the island of Key Biscayne) are where real locals spend their sunniest days. Pull up to any of the island’s beautiful beaches, and you’re sure to find people snacking on some of Marcelo’s famous ceviche. The Peruvian native serves some of the freshest, most delicious ceviche in all of Miami out of a food truck parked near the tennis courts. On a hot summer day, there’s nothing more refreshing.

🍦 Peak-Season Pick: Don’t let the hordes of tourists turn you off from stepping into Azucar. What awaits inside is a very Miami ice cream experience. Think flavors like “Abuela Maria”—the ice cream version of a classic Cuban guava paste snack—and “Café Con Leche”—Cuban coffee ice cream mixed with Oreos. Whichever flavor you end up choosing, there’s nothing more Miami than walking down calle ocho with a huge cone of Azucar ice cream.

🍍 Peak-Season Pick: El Palacio de los Jugos is part produce market, part takeout spot, and part juicery. While all of the food is great, as are the local fruit and veg, I love to stop in for a very large jug of whatever fruit juice I’m craving that day, juiced on the spot. My personal favorites are guava, sandia (watermelon juice), and pineapple. When the heat is unbearable, my advice is to get the very large size with a lot of ice, and sip it to keep yourself cool!

🥭 Peak-Season Pick: Miami has an obsession with acai bowls. No, really—it feels like every other restaurant is an acai bowl spot. A few are definitely worth your time, and Under The Mango Tree is one of those. Steps from South Beach, this vegan café serves some of the most delicious, refreshing acai bowls in Miami. I keep it simple with the classic acai bowl, which has just the right amount of sweetness. When I’m looking for a quick snack, Under The Mango Tree always hits.

Al-Amir is a simple restaurant serving some of the best Lebanese homestyle cooking in Miami. This place initially caught my eye after friends posted photos of some of the dips and spreads, like baba ganoush topped with pomegranate seeds and hummus sprinkled with za’atar. That was all I needed to make the trek and try it out for myself. It’s fun to order a huge mix of things, but don’t forget the sfiha, a Lebanese flatbread with minced meat on top.

If there’s one thing I love, it’s a really good hot dog. Lucky for me, Arbetter's is a Miami institution that’s been around for 60 years serving just that. It’s clear the place has been around for decades—everything looks as if it has gone untouched. I keep my hot dog order pretty simple: onions, both mustard and ketchup (controversial, I know!), and sometimes sauerkraut, depending on my mood. In my opinion, a Coca-Cola and cheese fries are absolutely necessary accoutrements.

I never really thought of fruit salad as a dish to get excited about. Really, what’s there to a bowl of cut-up, usually unripe fruit? I now realize that the problem was that I just hadn’t yet discovered Athens. It’s a simple concept: fruit, in different formats—sometimes blended, sometimes cut up, always perfectly ripe. I love the fruit salad, which contains a medley of bananas, pineapples, and other fruits topped with a fruit nectar I wish I could replicate at home.

I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten at this waterfront spot without my whole family being there, but that speaks to the kind of place it is. It’s like the more put-together older brother of a fish shack. Filled with people of all ages, Boater’s Grill serves almost every type of seafood you can think of, prepared in every kind of way you can think of. If you want something local, order the catch of the day pan fried with a side of maduros (fried sweet plantains) and yellow rice.

Boia De is the kind of place where small plates and good wine—served in a trendy yet casual atmosphere—are the stars of the show. The menu changes from time to time, but I wouldn’t miss the potato skins, the tartare, and the budino for dessert. Unless you know someone who knows someone, it can be really hard to score a reservation (the place is tiny and a favorite among both locals and tourists!), so plan ahead or join the queue just before they open in hopes of scoring a seat at the bar.