what's poppin'

Houston gelato house unveils new frozen pops at favorite Texas grocery store

If there’s one thing Texans love, it’s supporting Texas businesses. And if there’s one thing Texas foodies love more than that, it’s supporting a Texas business that produces a tasty treat. Enter Houston-based Trentino Gelato.

For the last 13 years, the company has offered its myriad flavors and creamy goodness at places like Axelrad and Luna Pizzeria, as well as a host of casual and fine dining spots around the Bayou City. Houstonians also were able to purchase the stuff by the pint at Spec’s Whole Foods and Central Market.

Now, the company has upped its game, with the statewide appearance of its handcrafted goat milk Gelato Pops. The frozen goodies will be available at more than 190 H-E-B stores across Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. The retail rollout follows Trentino’s showing of its Gelato Pops at H-E-B’s 2016 Primo Pick competition, an initiative that allows Texas-based vendors to showcase their products in front of the grocery giant.

Trentino already had an array of gelato flavors in its arsenal, from the traditional Stracciatella and lemon pistachio to the more modern Cookies ‘n’ Cream and mint chocolate chip. With its goat milk pops, it’s adding in combos like almond fig, dulce de leche, raspberry sorbet, and mango sorbet to the mix.

Certified kosher and gluten-free, Trentino’s goat milk has given the gelato a light texture without sacrificing taste. Each pop is made, according to Kreindel, with only two or three ingredients, including the goat’s milk. There are no artificial colors or flavors and no added hormones or stabilizers. Perhaps best of all for those who want to feel like they’re indulging while simultaneously being healthy: each pop is less than 130 calories.

“I have been passionate about creating fantastic gelato flavors that our customers have loved for over 13 years and with our goat milk Gelato Pops, I feel that we have created something really special,” said Marcelo Kreindel, who founded Trentino after missing the traditional gelato shops that popped up like so many Starbucks in his native Buenos Aires. “Our expansion into H-E-B stores marks a major milestone for the Trentino brand and we are excited to share our goat milk gelato pops not only with an increasing number of Houstonians but also with new customers across Texas. Our new partnership with H-E-B will serve as a vehicle to expand the pops to additional regional markets while simultaneously exposing the masses to Trentino’s goat milk Gelato Pop recipe.”

Since Trentino’s 2005 debut on the Houston culinary scene, the brand has garnered passionate fans, and picked up a host of industry awards, including the top prize at the American Dairy Goat Association Dairy Product Competition and first prize in RodeoHouston’s 2016 Best Bites competition in the dessert category.

And with its expansion to freezers across the state, it’s a safe bet Texans’ summers just got a little more flavorful.

Trentino's array of goat milk gelato pops.

Courtesy photo

Trentino's array of goat milk gelato pops.

desserts ice-cream

a fresh start

River Oaks gourmet grocer unveils cozy new name and big Dallas plans

Photo by Julie Soefer

Tres Market is now known as The Cottage Grocery.

River Oaks’ favorite gourmet grocer is switching things up with a new name and a second location. Tres Market is now known as The Cottage Grocery, but that’s only one of many changes for the five-year old market, bakery, and cafe.

The rebrand comes after founder Julie Rhyne and her business partner Jeannine Holland decided to end their partnership and go their separate ways. While the name may be new, Rhyne’s recipes are the same. The store offers about 450 items, all of which are prepared fresh on site and are available to-go in the restaurant’s refrigerated cases, along with specialty items, wine, and more. Customers have come to rely on The Cottage Grocery for heat-and-serve soups, salads, and entrees that range from roast chicken to pastas to pork tenderloin, meatloaf, and more.

Although the store has only been open for about five years, Rhyne’s history in the business goes back to 1989, when she started a catering company from her home kitchen. Things got bigger when she and her husband moved to Houston. The store took off during the early days of the pandemic, when nearby families turned to then-Tres Market for restaurant quality meals they could heat up at home. Now the store’s 30 cooks produce more than 2,000 containers of food daily, along with cookies, cakes, and other sweets for the store’s bakery.

A Family Affair

Rather than operate The Cottage Grocery on her own, Rhyne is now working with her daughter, Lauren Van Wagenen, and her son, Taylor Rhyne, as well as their spouses. The new name is an homage to the business’ location — Rhyne refers to the building adjacent to the market as ‘The Cottage’ — as well as a nod to the family’s preference for taking vacations to cozy places that offer comfort and respite without being too fancy.

“When we go on vacation, the whole family goes — my kids, their spouses, the grandkids, the whole fam-dam-ily,” she tells CultureMap. “We love going to places that are laidback and relaxed. They all have a common theme. You walk in and realize they get it. It’s how people would spend all their time if they could.”

Coming to Dallas

Van Wagenen, an accountant who worked in finance for more than a decade, will take the lead on the store’s new Dallas location that’s expected to open this summer. She’s already made her mark on the business by creating barcodes for all of the store’s prepared items. The simple change cut check out times down from five minutes to 30 seconds, she says.

Both Rhyne and Van Wagenen are excited about the upcoming Dallas location, which will be located in the Highland Park neighborhood at 4919 McKinney. They see a lot of similarities between Highland Park and the store’s original location in River Oaks.

“The site itself is kind of an island where three roads intersect,” Van Wagenen says. “You can’t miss us. When we were looking, we wanted to be in Highland Park. It’s similar to River Oaks — tree-lined streets, a lot of walkability.”

Just as Rhyne’s constant presence at the River Oaks location assures customers that an owner is keeping an eye on the business, Van Wagenen and her husband David plan to be fixtures at the Dallas store. As in Houston, everything will be prepared fresh at the store from Rhyne’s recipes.

“It’s a two-story, cottage-looking house with these huge high-rises around it,” Rhyne adds. “Everyone’s going to be looking down at us, and we’ll be out there waving cookies at them.”

Once Dallas is open and running smoothly, Rhyne and her son Taylor, an IT specialist, will begin looking for a second Houston location. More details on those plans will be revealed in the future.

Photo by Julie Soefer

Tres Market is now known as The Cottage Grocery.

news-you-can-eat openings the cottage grocery tres market