[Photograph: Kathy YL Chan]

The Acai Cup at O Cafe is the type of treat you want to go for when the days are too hot and humid for an actual meal. It's essentially frozen acai and fresh bananas blended into a thick, virtuous smoothie topped with a housemade concoction of cashews, sunflower seeds, grains, and even raw sprouts. They give you a cover and a straw, but skip on the lid and use a spoon—this is a sit down, spoon up affair. Mix the "toppings" into the icy cold smoothie and dig in. The nutty crunch and icy, not creamy, acai blend is, as you may anticipate, incredibly refreshing, a clean sweet that satisfies but never weighs you down.

O Cafe

482 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10011 (map)
212-229-2233; ocafeny.com

About the author: Originally from Honolulu, Kathy YL Chan writes A Passion For Food, where she chronicles her eats and travels adventures between Hawai'i, New York and beyond. She firmly believes that there is always room for dessert.