Coffee & Treats in Holbrook

It’s hard to find something as universally appreciated and versatile as cement blocks. Today’s Groupon does just that with $15 for $30 worth of French brie, Spanish manchego, Italian parmesan, English cheddar, and American goat cheeses among the 150+ offerings from around New England and the world at Boston Cheese Cellar. The one-stop gourmet shop is located just south of the city in Roslindale Village.

Petsi Pies’ chefs deftly whip up a fresh bevy of tantalizing baked goods daily, tickling palates with natural ingredients while delighting both flavor and olfactory sensors. The shop's variety of savory pies, such as the 8-inch chicken pot pie, the bacon with leeks and gruyère, and the spinach ricotta ($12 each), demonstrate that pies can be dinner as well as dessert. Sweet selections such as the 5-inch southern pecan, the mississippi mud, and the apple crumb ($7 each) prove once and for all that pies are good for more than just smuggling metal files into prison. The 10-inch lemon meringue, banana chocolate cream, and mixed berry pies ($20 each) proffer a feast for six to eight friends or two quartets of pie-gobbling nemeses, and a cornucopia of bakery treats satiates sucrose-seekers with molasses ginger cookies, banana-chip muffins, scones, and coffeecake.

At The Edge, sandwiches are served on a bagel, wheat toast, English muffin, or whole-wheat wrap ($4.25–$5.95). Steel yourself for the day with a steaming mugwhallop of Intelligentsia coffee ($1.75), or lunch hard with a vengeance with a chicken-curry-salad sandwich with mango chutney ($7.50 for whole, $5.50 for half) or a spinach salad bombarded with crumbled blue cheese and sunflower seeds ($6). If you've been pinned down by hunger, toss a few upside-down-peach-cupcake and cranberry-scone grenades its way. Baked fresh daily, they boast a full-frontal flavor that will variously coax and bully appetites into submission.

Nashoba’s owners and baker bromantics, Stuart Witt and John Gates, make everything in their breadbasket with a special slow-rise method. Each loaf rises slowly over the course of 24 hours, fueled by a unique starter developed by co-owner Stu that produces a profoundly pillowy texture and a beautiful, glossy, full head of crust. Every day, hundreds of these mesmerizing loaves float out into the world from Nashoba's 32,000-pound French-made bread oven like so many doughy dandelion spores buoyed by a warm, yeasty breeze. And each of Nashoba’s plethora of riseable dough varieties can take you someplace different. Transport yourself to shores lapped by wine-dark Mediterranean waters with an olive loaf ($5.50), or trick nearby turkeys into roasting, basting, and slicing themselves with a too-toothsome-to-resist rosemary garlic breadball ($4.45). Trek to an oasis of thick, chewy dates on the camel’s back of a seven-grain ($5.50), and avenge the pigeons that killed your father with pieces from a sourdough loaf laced with combustively spicy pepper jack ($4.10).

It was 1978. A college dropout and a failed medical-school applicant had just brought together their combined life savings to rent an old gas station. Their plan was to resurrect the empty station and open their own restaurant. Their specialty: ice cream. So begins the story of legendary entrepreneurs Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who are better known across the globe as Ben & Jerry. Their small, old-fashioned ice-cream parlor eventually became a Burlington, Vermont favorite, and before long, shops popped up all over the U.S. and in 25 other countries. Their brand easily attracted customers––homemade ice cream churned from wholesome, natural ingredients and blended into creative flavors. Some of their popular scoops include Cherry Garcia, Chunky Monkey, and Coffee Caramel Buzz.

Since infusing their first rich and creamy batches of ice cream with natural chunks of fruit, nuts, candies, and cookies, Ben and Jerry have also operated with a commitment to improve the quality of life locally, nationally, and internationally. They practice sustainable food production and business practices that respect the earth and environment. Ben & Jerry’s cartons are made from FSC-certified paper, which comes from forests that are managed for the protection of wildlife, and waste from Ben & Jerry’s plants generates energy to power farms. The company works tirelessly to reduce its carbon emissions; it strongly encourages customers to eat their ice cream in the darkest dark.

Planet Smoothie actually does cover a significant portion of the planet, with locations all over the east coast and as far west as Hawaii. In their expansive geographical quest, they seek to change dieting habits for the better with their products. The team behind this fruit haven lays down exactly what their smoothies are made from and what they will do for your body so that clients can make informed decisions about their smoothie choices.

Their full menu catalogs fruit-filled drinks, with options to add protein powder for faster muscle growth than when Arnold Schwarzenegger synchronized his bicep flexing to a hip-hop beat. They also mix in fat-burning blasts to suppress appetites and immune-system blasts to keep bodies healthy. The shop accommodates clients’ food allergies and dietary restrictions with gluten-free and dairy-free options. In addition, they only use natural, low-calorie sweeteners composed of agave and stevia to offer a healthy alternative to chemical sweeteners while avoiding the excess calories associated with traditional sugar.