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The
Scoop on Florentino's Ice Cream- |
Absolute
Nirvana! |
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Florentino
Supersupreme Ice Cream is made from the finest
all-natural ingredients by
guru Mike Nademlynsky in Cypress, California.
He supplies chefs who know their guests
will swoon over the rich and creamy taste, no
matter which flavor they choose.
By Linda Mensinga |
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“Believe
it or not, vanilla. Even though we make
120 different flavors, vanilla sells the most, then chocolate,
strawberry and raspberry sorbet,”
says Mike Nademlynsky about ice cream sales. His company,
Florentino’s Supersupreme Ice Cream, custom creates
flavors in amounts as small as 2 gallons for caterers,
chefs and pastry chefs. Florentino’s list of over
100 flavors will make any ice cream lover swoon.
“The fact that he
does so many flavors was the original draw. His production
is so fresh,” Caterer Cid Burgess of Kitchen for
Exploring Flavors in Pasadena, California, said. Burgess
likes to offer his customers cutting-edge food and serves
Florentino’s lavender ice cream
and pomegranate sorbet.
For Scott Brandon, pastry chef at Oysters restaurant in
Corona Del Mar, California, “It’s all about
the quality. His ice cream is rich and dense, very little
air. And they create flavors just for us.” |
Brandon uses white
chocolate ice cream with mini marshmallows
for his most popular dessert, S’mores. He makes
his own cinnamon graham crackers, his own marshmallows
and layers that with the ice cream and two kinds of Belgian
chocolate, white and dark. Brandon also likes seasonal
specialties such as pumpkin gelato and
peppermint ice cream.
David
Nelson, pastry chef at La Quinta Resort near Palm Springs,
serves Florentino’s cones, ice cream already portioned
into a pyramid shape, that come in every exotic flavor.
He likes the presentation it provides and the convenience.
We used to make our own but it got overwhelming. Then
we started looking around for a quality equal to ours
and found Mike. It’s what he puts in the ice cream.
He puts good things in,” Nelson explained. Chef
Nelson makes an apple tarte tatin and serves it with sour
cream sorbet. |
(Ask for a sample. The creamy
texture and refreshing tang is amazing.) His mango tart
with Nademlynsky’s mango ice cream
also sells well.
Making
and selling ice cream was not Nademlynsky’s first
or even second career. Originally from Czechoslovakia,
he escaped from the then-communist country in 1969 with
his wife and 3 children. “The twins were a year
old and my son was eight. You had to think really hard
to find a way to get out,” he recalled. Fortunately,
they were able to escape safely, if separately. After
landing in New York with just $200, the Nademlynskys’
moved to Chicago where other Czech immigrants helped them
find a place to live and a job. After seeking work as
a commercial diver, he decided to start his own company..
“No one wanted to give me a job, so I started my
own business," he said. While
getting that off the ground, he delivered pizzas at night
with the |
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worry that one of the company presidents he’d just
introduced himself to would open the door. Soon, however,
he established contracts with the city, the navy and the
coast guard.
After moving to California,
“I had a lot of money and wanted to open a European
café. In those days there were no Starbucks. Being
from Europe I missed that.” Nademlynsky chose a
plaza area of Cypress, a suburban city in Orange County,
to open his café because it had plenty of parking.
In 1982, he, his wife and children served croissants,
sandwiches, espressos and lattes. They ran the restaurant
for 5 years, but it was a struggle. “I was naïve.
I thought people would come.I learned location, location,
location. And that was good too,” he admitted. Their
café did sell frozen yogurt and soft ice cream.
“I thought ice cream was
interesting and could be a good business,” Nademlynsky
said. So he bought equipment to make his own and was told
he would get recipes. “When I went to Oregon, the
Italian guys making ice cream just laughed. Those were
family secrets. The recipes that factory gave me were
lousy," he added. But he kept at it, experimenting,
reading books, asking |
questions. “After so many years you
learn from practice.” Eventually, he was able to
make ice cream that was truly superb and his production
capability was more than he needed for the café.
Nademlynsky then began visiting other local restaurants,
bringing samples of his ice cream. The wholesale part
of the business began to build slowly. Listening
to chefs and meeting their needs has been a key to Florentino’s
growth. Pastry Chef Thomas Henzi of the Century Plaza
in Los Angeles wanted a fig ice cream. “Thomas said
cook the figs in red wine and add a little balsamic vinegar.
So we made some and presented it to him. He tasted it
and we changed just a little bit after that,” Nademlynsky
said. Funky fig is a standard now. At
the moment they’re working on a saffron ice cream
for an Indian customer using Xilatol (a sweetener made
from birch trees) and soy for diabetics.
What happens when the hotel or restaurant changes the
menu? “Chefs do change every three or four months
but if we carry it, someone else will order it,”
he responded.
Mint mojito, avocado sorbet,
tarragon and cucumber |
are just a few of the flavors. Florentino’s
has created for restaurants. Sometimes Nademlynsky creates
his own. “Not too many people know cassis (black
current liqueur), but I like it and am giving samples.”
Of course, there’s
also Jackfruit, Chocolate Sour Cherry, Prickly
Pear, Vanilla Tequila Raisin or Lavender Honey ice cream.
Or maybe Grand Marnier, Rose Bud Champagne, Lychee
or LimeTequila sorbet strike your fancy?
“My main policy is
to make the best or not at all. The only way for me to
survive is to be the best. I can’t compete with
the big guys. They are cheaper. But we have extreme quality
and service,” he explained. He understands that
changing banquet numbers and last minute bookings force
chefs to scramble and Nademlynski accommodates them as
much as he can. Running a small business can be a scramble
too with changing (escalating) prices on everything from
cocoa to gas. And with stiff competition, Florentino’s
cannot simply raise prices. “Luckily we don’t
have a high payroll. We fix everything that |
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might break down ourselves.”
While satisfied, Nademlynski is looking for other markets,
including overseas. “I found out it doesn’t
cost more to ship to Singapore than it does to ship to
New York,” he said. He hopes to find distributors
as well as customers for his premium ice cream at the
many high-end hotels there. Locally, he relies on word-of-mouth
to grow his business. And his customers are loyal. “I’m
66; I’ve been here since I was 31. More of my life
has been spent here,” he reflected. “I never
stopped working but it doesn’t feel like work.”
Pastry Chef David Nelson
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White chocolate mousse
8 ounces white chocolate, (Valrhona Ivory)
1 egg
1/2 ounce sugar
1 gelatin leaf, soaked in water until soft, then removed.
16 ounces heavy cream
Melt
white chocolate. Over double boiler, whisk eggs and sugar
until hot, don't scramble eggs, add gelatin.
Combine
egg mixture with white chocolate and mix until smooth,
let cool.
Whip cream
to soft peaks; fold into
chocolate mixture.
Raspberry Bavarian
8 ounces whole milk
4 egg yolks
3 ounces sugar
4 ounces raspberry puree
3 gelatin leaves
4 ounces heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks.
Boil
milk.
Temper egg yolks
and sugar, return
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this to heat and thicken
while constantly stirring.
Remove
from heat, add raspberry puree and gelatin.
Cool
on ice bath; when cool fold in
whipped cream.
White Chocolate Crunch
Bar
10 ounces white chocolate (Valrhona
Ivory)
1/4 cup praline, chopped coarse
2 teaspoons peanut oil
1/2 cup baked short dough cookies
4 ounces white chocolate (Valrhona
Ivory)
6 ounces heavy cream
Melt
white chocolate.
Coarsely
chop praline and coat with
oil.
Coarsely break
up cookies.
Incorporate
into 6 ounces of the
white chocolate.
Add 2 ounces
warm
cream, the praline and cookies.
Pour this into a 3-x 10-inch mold lined with plastic wrap
and cool in refrigerator. |
Whip
4 ounces heavy cream and fold into 4 ounces white chocolate.
Spread this evenly and
set chocolate
bar in refrigerator.
Assembly
8 scoops Florentino White Chocolate
Raspberry Ice Cream
8 Florentine cookies, 1 x 2 inches.
Pipe white chocolate mousse
into
terrine mold half way. Pipe raspberry
Bavarian in the middle of mousse then
cover with the rest of the white chocolate
mousse. Freeze.
Slice mousse terrine and
crunch bar
into 8 pieces. Arrange on plate with Florentine
cookie and white chocolate ice
cream.
Garnish with raspberries.
Pastry Chef David Nelson
La Quinta Resort
La Quinta, CA (near Palm Springs)
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