Coffee & Treats in Upper Arlington

Human beings are the only animals that possess the ability to laugh, cry, beat every level of Pac-Man, and turn anything into a type of cake. Everything from carrots to birthday has been cake-ified thanks to humanity’s technological advances. Cheese is no exception. Today’s Groupon gets you a whole slice of this unlikely culinary marriage for half price. For $2, you get any slice of cheesecake from Columbus Cheesecake Company, a $4 value. This Grandview Heights operation has been cranking out the cakes since 2003 and recording Grammy-nominated albums since 1998.Follow @Groupon_Says on Twitter.

Outside of swimming laps in chocolate syrup, smoothies at Smoothie King are the tastiest way to improve your health. Smoothie King smoothies combine fresh fruit, natural juices, and special nutritional enhancers into more than 90 flavors (you can customize, add, and subtract the extras), all of which focus on achieving one of seven nutritional goals. Try an antioxidant-rich Pomegranate Punch with pomegranate, bananas, blueberries, apple juice, soy protein, and Turbinado sweetener to stay healthy. Weight-conscious en-smuthiasts can trim down and float away with the Celestial Cherry High, packed with bananas, black cherry, papaya, Turbinado, and honey, and unpacked with fat. You can also customize any smoothie by adding enhancers or “make it skinny” by cutting out the honey and Turbinado.

Every morning, Rita's Italian Ice's dessert-makers show up to work and start smashing fruit to bits. They extract the juices, natural sugars, and sweet flesh of each to infuse into their freshly-made italian ices. The ices pair well with custards and creams for mixed treats, or serve as refreshingly cool treats on their own. The staff even take small groups on behind-the-scenes tours of their kitchens, teaching the secrets to freezing mango juice into a silky-smooth texture or milking a banana.

As a fourth-generation owner of Johnson's Real Ice Cream, Matt Wilcoxon is proud to distribute ice-cream flavors to 200 restaurants, help mastermind flavors with local companies, and avoid being locked in the ice-cream freezer again. Back when he was 12 and cleaning tables, “I was the one [the employees] always picked on,” he recalls. On a particularly creative night, the teenage staff hosed him down and shut him in the freezer. “I find it funny now,” Matt says chuckling.

Despite a trial-by-fire beginning, Matt knew during college that he wanted to run the family business. “We’re kind of Columbus’ original homemade ice cream,” he says, which is the impetus for Johnson’s current project. Matt and other local companies are “developing three new flavors…as a Columbus local collection” to focus on area flavors that Columbus knows and loves.

At the store—still in its original 1950s location—diners snack on classic and innovative flavors such as caramel cream, chocolate marshmallow, and Buckeye fever. An expansive outdoor patio welcomes diners with 50 seats, and bands croon sweet tunes in temperate weather.

Divine De-lites owner Kim Herring didn’t set out to become full-time baker. “I was really more of a cook,” she says, “but then whenever we had family functions I always baked stuff.” But not just any "stuff"––breads and cookies that had family and friends raving. For nearly 10 years, others tried to convince her to turn her part-time passion into a career, and when the economic downturn led her to leave her job in the corporate arena, she decided to do exactly that.

To craft her treats, Herring employs family recipes––including one for a much-lauded banana bread––and formulations she developed herself using organic and local products whenever possible. Cookies are her No. 1 specialty, which she whips up in flavors such as oatmeal apricot, peanut butter, and almond butter with fig, and can be made gluten-free, sugar-free, or disguised as salads to suit a range of dietary concerns. But it’s her chocolate-chip cookies that are the real crowd pleaser. “They’re kinda crispy on the outside, but when you break ‘em open they’re real soft on the inside. And [there are] lots of chocolate chips.”

Following in the footsteps of numerically shaped oat cereal and president-profile pasta, Sugardaddy's distinctively circle-shaped confections prove that well-formed fare always tastes better. Premium semi-sweet chocolate swirled with unsweetened chocolate and fine espresso give the signature brunettes their intensely decadent flavor. The rich mint might tempt gum chewers, while the dark berry offers a touch of just-picked flavor. You can also get your brownies tinged with citrus, bursting with peanut butter, or spontaneously combusting with walnuts. If you don't even like your humor dark, batter up with a more buttery bite and try the blondies. The sugary snacks explode with brown sugar for a moist, indulgent pick-me-up. Sugardaddy's offers four featured blends: cinnamon, nutty, strawberry, and Tahiti. Learn more about every flavor here.