What foods scream summer to you?

Sewall, chef and co-owner of Row 34 restaurants, says, “The one thing I really look forward to eating in summer is ice cream. Putting the kids in the car and going for ice cream is a summer tradition.” It dates back to when he was a child: “I remember vividly getting in the car with my grandparents and going to Mrs & Me Ice Cream in Kittery, Maine.” His favorite flavor as a 10-year-old was mint chocolate chip. His current favorite 40 years later? Yup, mint chocolate chip. “My taste in fish has evolved, my taste in ice cream has not,” he says. “And it’s gotta be green,” he adds, of the minty cool scoops he likes on a sugar cone or, occasionally, a waffle cone. Second choice is butter pecan. The Wellesley resident often frequents Truly’s in Wellesley and Gracie’s Ice Cream in Somerville. “Summer food has a nostalgic feel to it,” he says. And ice cream is an indelible part of his memories.

Another ice cream lover, as you’d expect, is Ray Ford, owner of Christina’s Homemade Ice Cream in Cambridge. One of the more unusual and eagerly-awaited-for seasonal flavors is rose petal. “It’s the official start to summer,” says Ford, who buys 10-pound bags of fresh petals from Eva’s Garden in South Dartmouth. “This is a very popular, very seasonal, and very expensive ice cream to make,” he says. Ford steeps rose petals in milk, cream, and sugar over low heat for hours, then strains the mixture. “It’s an absolutely divine ice cream,” he says. Other summer favorites of his include mint ice creams made with fresh mint leaves, such as chocolate peppermint and orange mint, and fresh lime leaf. Ford grew up in Devon, England, and it was a Sunday treat for the family to go out for ice cream (always vanilla) with a dollop of clotted cream and drizzle of raspberry syrup. On any given day, Christina’s may have 40 to 50 flavors available. But when roses are in bloom, it’s time for rose petal ice cream.

Jen Verrill, whose family has owned and operated Concord’s Verrill Farm since 1918, likes a deceptively simple and delicious tomato sandwich. Every year she waits for Brandywine tomatoes to reach peak ripeness. “It’s one of about 25 kinds of tomatoes we grow,” says Verrill. She places one thick slice of tomato on lightly toasted Nashoba Brooks pepper jack cheese bread, along with a smear of mayo, salt, pepper, and arugula. “I love the Brandywine variety; it’s meaty and juicy,” she says. Depending on the weather, the heirloom is available from late July or early August through September. “We all like tomato sandwiches,” she says of her long-standing farming family.

“The fishing season for Atlantic bluefin tuna opened here on June 1 and lasts until December,” says Jared Auerbach, owner of Red’s Best in Boston. “The enormous fish are migrating up the coast and there’s tons of bait in our rich waters. As the season goes on the fish get fattier and fattier.” Which is how he likes them. You can buy bluefin tuna steak and grill it, he says, “but really, you should be eating it raw.” At Red’s Best’s processing facility at Boston’s Fish Pier, they cut the prime loin of the tuna into saku blocks and freeze them at super low (negative) temperatures. At home, Auerbach will partly thaw the tuna, slice, and serve it with sushi rice, soy sauce, ginger, and wasabi. The largest bluefins he’s seen landed here are about 1,000 pounds. Some get shipped out whole (“These fish are prized in Tokyo,” he says), the rest are processed at the company’s operating plant. Auerbach, who’s been fishing since he was 5 years old, says he’s only caught one, which he estimates at about 300 pounds. Not bad for a part-time fisherman.

Philip Schein, founder and owner of Fazenda Coffee Roasters in Dedham, likes his summer on a pizza. “The ultimate is Al Forno’s corn pizza,” says the native Rhode Islander of the Providence restaurant. “I look forward to it every summer.” On top of a thin grilled crust is fontina and pecorino cheeses, tomato sauce, fresh local corn, spicy olive oil, and thin sliced scallion. Another R.I. favorite of Schein’s is Caserta Pizzeria’s Sicilian-style pie, which he grew up eating. “It’s a tradition to buy it and take it to the beach,” he says. Inevitably, some of the slices magically disappear before arriving beachside. (He loves it hot out of the box, but says it’s also good at room temperature.) Closer to Boston, his favorite pies are at Oggi Gourmet in Harvard Square for pepperoni and good people watching at Za in Arlington, which makes pizzas topped with asparagus at the start of the season, garlic scapes, and then a hearty combo of corn, potato, and bacon. “I love pizza and the ones with fresh summer ingredients make it even better,” says Schein.

Every summer, Angela Hofmann looks forward to local stone fruits, particularly peaches, nectarines, and plums. “They satisfy your sweet tooth with the added benefits of vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber,” says the founder and owner of Nussli118 in Cambridge. Her shop sells all kinds of tasty vegan, gluten-free, and raw foods. Hofmann buys produce at the Davis Square Farmers Market in Somerville and Kimball Fruit Farm is her go-to stand for stone fruit. “I love that they’re so versatile,” she says. In addition to topping her morning chia pudding with chopped peaches and plums, she suggests, “they’re also great in salads and grain bowls as a contrast to all those savory flavors.” When a fancy dessert is called for, she makes a beautiful tart with an almond crust, cashew cream, and sliced stone fruit on top. Hofmann purees peaches, along with dates (another stone fruit) for a bit of extra sweetness, for a glaze for her granola. (The granola is dried in dehydrators instead of baked. None of her desserts, bars, crackers, and granola are heated above 118 degrees, which, she says, allows for the retention of a food’s vitamins.) For a fun treat, Hofmann makes “nice cream” by pureeing frozen stone fruits and bananas. “It’s a creamy, sweet, and easy dessert that is truly refreshing without the calories.”

Another stone fruit lover, Joanne Chang is, in her words, obsessed with cherries. The pastry chef and co-owner of Flour Bakery + Cafe and Myers + Chang restaurant waits all year long for Bing cherries to wind their way to New England supermarkets. (The dark red, sweet Bing cherries come primarily from California and the Pacific Northwest.) “My dad and Chris [husband Chris Myers] tease me about my cherry problem,” she says. “I love Bing cherries when they’re really big and firm. I can’t eat them fast enough,” she says of the multiple bags sitting in her fridge. “I used to be more price sensitive, but no longer,” she says. “The season is short. It’s a splurge, but a worthwhile splurge.” For breakfast, she pits a handful and mixes them with yogurt and honey. She’ll cook a batch, let them cool, and spoon the cherries and juice over ice cream. Chang also bakes with them. The pastry chef always has pie dough in the freezer (of course she does) to make a crostata, a rustic Italian fruit tart sans top crust, with cherries, peaches, and nectarines. She also assembles cherry ricotta scones and freezes them to bake throughout the fall. “A decent cherry-pitter is a game changer,” she says. Whether it’s an obsession or a problem, Chang is never far from the cherry bowl when the sweet little fruits are in season.

Geo Lambert, chef-owner of M&M Barbecue in Dorchester, cooks ribs, pulled pork, brisket, fried chicken, bratwursts, and more. “I grill all year round,” he says, including steaks, seafood, lobster tails, and oysters. “I’m not a burger fan,” he adds. In summer, his favorite food to grill is a big fat cowboy steak that can amply feed his family gathered around the table. The cut is a 40- to 50-ounce bone-in ribeye, a good meal to share, he says. “The bone gives the meat more flavor.” Lambert, who’s the pitmaster of the business his grandparents started, buys meat from Alpine Butcher in Lowell. He seasons the cowboy steak with “house seasoning,” which includes onion salt, garlic powder, and paprika, and brown sugar, and cooks it over hot charcoal; the 2½-inch-thick steak takes 25 to 30 minutes to reach his preferred “medium” doneness. What’s alongside? Chimichurri sauce, garden salad, baked potatoes, and a pot of barbecue beans. And his family, of course.

“Watermelon is cold, juicy, and sweet,” says Lillian Brandao, co-owner with her husband, Helder George Brandao of Estella in downtown Boston. And it’s her son Kayden’s favorite fruit, so she tries to incorporate it into their meals. A summer appetizer she likes to make is a watermelon salad with feta. If Brandao has time, she scoops the watermelon into small balls (“I saw it on Instagram,” she says) and jazzes up the salad with crumbled feta, balsamic glaze, and chopped mint. “I like the balls because it looks cute in little cups on the table,” she says. When the mother of three sons under the age of 6 is short on time, she simply chops the fruit into chunks. “Food brings people together,” she says. “And watermelon has always been a fruit accessible to everyone.” Plus it’s a slam dunk if her three young sons like it.

Lobster is one of Karen Akunowicz’s favorite summer foods and she specifically likes to eat it outdoors at Five Islands Lobster Co. in Georgetown, Maine. A few years ago, Akunowicz, chef-owner of Fox & the Knife, Bar Volpe, and Fox & Flight (at Logan airport), and her spouse bought a house in mid-coast Maine. She says summer wouldn’t be complete without sitting at picnic tables on the restaurant’s deck and eating freshly cooked lobster. “We look forward to that all winter,” she says. “It’s the epitome of New England summer.” They get boiled lobster, corn on the cob, potatoes, cole slaw, steamers, and onion rings. She’ll also pick up live lobsters to boil or grill at home. “They pull the lobsters right out of the water. It couldn’t be a fresher and better New England experience,” she says. Even her 20-month-old daughter, Rogue, would agree. The little one likes lobster, corn, and haddock chowder. “I don’t make her shell her own lobster yet,” says Akunowicz. “Maybe next year.”

Lisa Zwirn can be reached at lzwirn9093@gmail.com.

Lisa Zwirn can be reached at lzwirn9093@gmail.com.