Media
002 Magazine – New Restaurants
NEW RESTAURANTS
By Carla Valencia, April 2007
CUISINE: gourmet frozen dessert
Hands-down this is the best gelato I’ve had in the states in a very, very long time. I love a great velvety soft and creamy gelato and in peculiar flavors, they’re even better! Marcelo Kreindel has mastered the texture as well as the flavors. THE CHOCOLATE CHILI IS ADDICTIVE WITH A SOFT, SUBTLE KICK FROM THE CHILI AT THE END; THE YOGURT IS BETTER THAN I COULD HAVE IMAGINED!
Tangy and completely satisfying, and the vanilla with chocolate had to be tasted because it was perfection in its presentation – white and fluffy with chocolate perfectly drizzled on
top. After moving here from Argentina five years ago, Kreindel missed the high-quality Italian gelato he grew up eating. He decided to go to an Italian Gelato school and learned
how to make the best handcrafted gourmet gelato. About a year ago, he created Trentino, and his customers now include Tony’s, D’amico’s, Jackson Hicks, T’afia, Bice and
Benjy’s, among many others. All of his gelato is made downtown in shared space with Yapa Kitchen, where the first Trentino soft shop is located as well. There are twelve fresh flavors available daily at the shop. Stay tuned for news of a location inside the loop in the next year.
A breakfast social
By Alison Cook, January 2007
Marketing was such a joy while I was in Italy over the holidays that this past Saturday morning, I felt inspired to rise early and hit the Midtown Farmers Market.
That’s the one in the parking lot and interior of t’afia,chef Monica Pope’s restaurant on Travis at Alabama, in case you have trouble keeping the names of our various and sundry small farmers markets straight.
I like them all, but t’afia’s is the one nearest my house.
On my way out, I tasted some of the Trentino gelato and sorbetti made by charming Marcelo Kreindel. He was a software guy in Argentina, where there is a strong Italian presence. After he transferred to Houston, he said, “I just missed gelato too much.” Now he’s making small batch flavors that are featured on the t’afia menu (check out Monica, Andrea & Marcelo’s latest mulled Guinness brainstorm) and also sold retail at the downtown Yapa.
Alison Cook
Marcelo Kreindel dishes out his Trentino gelato for Midtown marketgoers.
Somehow it seemed fitting that Marcelo’s selection on Saturday was all in shades of elegant winter white. He had a brilliant Corona beer sorbetto–just touched with lemon and sugar–that positively bloomed in the mouth. And the mountain tang of Trentino’s yogurt-flavored gelato really got its hooks into me. Immediately I started imagining it as a fabulously simple dessert topped only with some perfect fruit or berries.
Alison Cook
Winter-white gelati and sorbetti from Trentino.
(Midtown Farmers Market, Saturdays 8 am–noon, 3701 Travis @ Alabama)
It’s ‘Buon Apetito!’ at Oporto Café
By Rhea Diaz, December 2006
If you’re craving something sweet and cold, ask for gelato, which is Italian ice cream. This is provided by local gelato maker Marcelo Kreindel of Trentino Gelato. When I was
introduced to it a few years ago, I fell in love with the frozen dessert, which has a silky
texture and is not as sticky-sweet as regular ice cream. Panna cotta, Italian for “cooked
cream,” and dried fruits are the key ingredients that make up the divine Tutti Frutti. Similar
to a children’s favorite in Portugal, this flavor was created by Trentino just for Oporto. I
had a generous scoop of both Tutti Frutti and pistachio flavors, which was presented with a crunchy pizelle waffle cookie.
New gelato maker in town
By TED POWERS, Food Editor 17.AUG.06
When Marcelo Kreindel moved to Houston from Argentina five years ago, he was working as a project manager for a software company but his dream was to create a company to
produce gelato. “In Argentina,” he said, “gelato shops are like Starbucks is here.” If you don’t know what gelato is, let me explain. Gelato is the Italian name for ice cream, but it
doesn’t contain as much fat and air as its American counterpart and has a much creamier and denser texture.
Kreindel, who has a passion for sweets, missed the gourmet gelato he had in Buenos Aires. He could not believe that in our big city there was not one place where he could buy it.
“My goal,” he said “was to make the best handcrafted gelato and sell it in a high design, modern environment.” His wholesale operation, called Trentino, began just four months
ago, and he says, “It’s going very well.” After discovering how difficult it was to get a retail store, he decided to start wholesaling to grow the business and wait for the perfect retail
location. Not too shabby to be in business such a short time and already have customers like Tony’s, Vincents, Nino’s, Daily Review Café, The Coffee Groundz, T’afia, D’amico’s, and
lots more.
Joan Lebow, an events planner at Invitations by Joan, has booked Trentino for several Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations. She is trying to make gelato bars the next big thing for
parties. I tasted four of his flavors – Dulce Leche, Mango Sorbet, Tiramisu and Nutella (in the chocolate family), and they really were good.
We all scream for… gelato? – May 2006 – Houston Chronicle
gelato desserts in the Coffee
Groundz in Sugar Land, one of his clients. Kreindel is hoping that profits from his wholesale business, Trentino, will allow him to open a retail location.
Nick de la Torre: CHRONICLE
May 21, 2006
PRODUCTS
We all scream for … gelato?
Houston, a little bit behind the curve, may be a wide-open market for an ice cream alternative
By MASON LERNER
For The Chronicle
Marcelo Kreindel is hoping to ride the wave of a nationwide trend by trading in software forsoft serve.
For 11 years while working as a project manager for a software company, he dreamed of perfecting and profiting from gelato, Italy’s version of ice cream.
Kreindel’s company moved him to Houston from Buenos Aires, Argentina, five years ago. In that time, he often missed the gelato cafés in his hometown that doubled as places to satisfy a sweet tooth while chilling out with friends and family.
He opened his own small business, Trentino to produce and wholesale his own style of gelato with an eye toward investing his profits in a retail location that could re-create the ambience of Argentina’s gelato shops.
“In Argentina, gelato shops are like Starbucks is here,” Kreindel said. “It is not just about the gelato, which is of course part of it, but to us the gelato shop is a place where family and friends gather to relax.”
What is it?
Kreindel knows that his first challenge is just to teach Houstonians what gelato is. He is confident that once they get a taste, they will prefer gelato to traditional American ice cream.
“Gelato has a lot of texture,” he explained. “With ice cream you have more volume filled by air. With gelato you have more volume consisting of the ingredients used to make it, so you have a creamier product with more texture. Plus, although it is richer, it is healthier because there is less butter.”
Kreindel makes his gelato in a rented professional kitchen in Midtown.
He tailors every order to his customers’ specifications and delivers it himself to the retail outlets that carry it.
He also plans to package his gelato for grocery store sales, and when he feels the time is right, begin opening retail locations.
Kreindel said that while gelato shops are already prevalent in most major cities in the United States, Houston seems to be behind the curve. He hopes to fill that void and
position Trentino as the first name Houstonians consider when they crave gelato.
But he has his work cut out for him. He is far from the only show in town.
Increased competition
Kreindel said he is looking forward to the competition.
He also said that the support of his wife and 1-year-old son is all the inspiration he needs to rise up and ultimately fulfill his dream of operating a chain of Trentino retail locations.
“If we fall, we can pick ourselves back up,” he said. “But the idea is to put all of our love together to make it happen.”