We know the temperatures in Vegas can be pretty intense for many visitors, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t venture outside. In fact, a small dose of Vegas summer can make some of the city’s special food and drinks seem that much cooler.

To start your frigid journey, stop in at Tender Steak & Seafood in the Luxor and order the chilled seafood tower. This baby spirals up three packed levels, with lobster, two types of seafood salads, shrimp, oysters and clams. It feeds two, if you can be convinced to share.

Although you might be tempted to stick with the ubiquitous frozen yard-long margarita (and I admit it, I have indulged in this delicacy maybe more than once or twice), you can kick up the cool factor considerably with the drinkable offerings available up and down the Strip. If you want to stick with the margarita theme, head to Minus5 Ice Bar in The Shoppes at Mandalay Bay for an ice margarita. Why order on the rocks when you can order in one instead? It’s served in a glass made of ice, as are several of the drinks here—that’s just neat.

But you have other options for chilly drinks. At Bellagio, Lago by Julian Serrano has a number of drinks to cool you down. The Café Lago, concocted with Valrhona chocolate, Patron XO Café hazelnut liqueur, rum and iced espresso relaxes you but, truthfully, revs you up a bit, too. The Frrrozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity 3 at Caesars Palace reallly, reallly rocks—a chocolatey, icy bit of heaven. It comes in three sizes, and you can customize it with toppings galore.

Thinking more along the lines of a milkshake? Get a classic at Shake Shack in New York-New York. You can walk right up to a window outside for a Concrete. Thick and good. Inventiveness is pretty high in Vegas, though. Right next door, Tom’s Urban offers spiked milkshakes in flavors such as Fireball Cinnamon Whisky (love the cinnamon candies on top) and Bacardi Coconut Chocolate.

A little further up Las Vegas Boulevard at The Mirage, LVB Burgers & Bar offers the Cold as Ice—with Fernet Branca Menta and crème de cacao, it’s a little like mint chocolate chip. The Jailhouse Rock combines some of the King’s favorite things—bananas, peanut butter and rum (OK, rum might be one of my favorite things). The flavors really pop, and you just might suck a whole banana through your straw.

Perhaps it’s a more traditional ice cream you want? Although you can get plain scoops of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry at plenty of places, you can kick that up, too. Gelato and sorbet are offered by many restaurants. OTTO Enoteca e Pizzeria in The Grand Canal Shoppes features a Concord Grape sorbetto, while Giada in The Cromwell has put together a delectable ice cream sandwich, with raspberry-buttermilk gelato between yummy lemon-ricotta cookies.