Miami is getting an ice cream ventanita. Kendall is blessed
Move over, Versailles. Miami is getting a new kind of ventanita.
Sweet Melody Ice cream is opening what it’s calling South Florida’s first ice cream ventanita in west Kendall. It’s a twist on the traditional walk-up coffee windows for which Miami is famous.
While most ventanitas sit outside Cuban restaurants, Sweet Melody’s is attached to Miamian Mike Romeu’s first standalone ice cream shop. It sells his luxurious premium ice cream with entirely house-made mix ins, which he began making out of his home before it became a hit through word of mouth and at local restaurants.
“I really want it to be part of the culture of Miami,” Romeu said.
Sweet Melody has built a steady following with flavors like Hella Nutella (Nutella ice cream with toasted hazelnuts and chunks of salted and malted caramel brownies), Bo and Joe’s Guava Cream Cheese (Brazilian guava with cream cheese) and Elena’s Heavenly Chocolate Cake (dark Belgian chocolate, housemade chocolate cake and roasted cherries).
The ice cream ventanita is more than a marketing quirk — it’s a creative solution to a problem.
Romeu’s ice cream shop is actually certified as a dairy plant, where he pasteurizes the milk to make individual bases for his ice cream. Unfortunately, that means he can’t have patrons inside the store. So he thought of the ventanita, from which he can sell his pints ($10) every day of the week, while scooping individual portions Thursday through Sunday.
“We can really make each flavor shine,” he said. “Each base is perfectly tailored to that flavor.”
Why go to the trouble of making his own ice cream bases while other shops buy theirs from larger creameries? It comes down to Romeu’s obsession with his product — everything is made in house. He recently hired a former Salty Donut executive pastry chef, Stephanie Esquivel, to help bake the cookies, brownies, cakes and pies he mixes into his ice cream.
“I want to put out a product I’m proud of,” he said. “It’s got my daughter’s name on it, so it has to be right.”
Romeu is also close to opening a standalone ice cream parlor, where diners can sit and see the ice cream being made at 17379 S. Dixie Highway, Palmetto Bay. It will be in partnership with his Kendall next-door neighbor and partner Strange Beast brewery and pizzeria, which opened in July.
As with most ventanitas, you’ll be able to order Cuban coffee from La Llave and pastelitos, these by Pastelito Papi, which creates traditional Cuban puff pastries but with unusual fillings such as peanut butter and jelly, buffalo chicken, frita hamburger and even an Elena Ruz.
“I’m going to try to make it a Cuban ventanita as much as we can,” he said.
Sweet Melody Ice Cream
Address: 15224 Sunset Dr., west Kendall
Hours: Noon-9 p.m., Monday through Saturday. 1-7 p.m., Sunday.
Contact: info@sweetmelodyicecream.com
