This is the third post in Green Light’s Summer Food Series, featuring area eateries with an Ivy Tech Northeast connection. Last time, we featured Krystal Hernandez at Zinnia’s Bakehouse.
Who: Melody Wang, co-owner at Fortezza (819 S. Calhoun St.) and Trionfale Espresso (2910 E. Dupont Road) and 2013 Ivy Tech Northeast hospitality administration graduate
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How: Originally, Wang planned to go into foreign affairs. After graduating high school–she was homeschooled in Columbia City–she didn’t go to college; she moved to Japan, where she grew up. Her grandfather owned a bakery in Japan. “While I was over there, I would go to this cafe and bakery, and I said, ‘You know what? I enjoy eating. I’m going to move back to the States to study baking and pastry arts.'” Ivy Tech Northeast was the only school in the area that offered the concentration, she says, so the choice was simple.
Her then-boyfriend, Sean Wang, now her husband, was in the process of starting up Trionfale Espresso, which opened in December 2011. The two decided to collaborate, putting Melody in charge of the baked goods. After graduating, she interned at Duo, a bakery in Okinawa, Japan.
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What: When she started at Trionfale, Melody was still an Ivy Tech Northeast student and focused on basics like muffins and cookies. Now, the selection of baked goods is more advanced. Melody says her personal favorite treat at Fortezza is the strawberry roll cake, a fluffy sponge cake rolled with whipped cream and strawberry jam. Macaroons include flavors like Earl Grey & honey and salted caramel.
Say what? That’s Tree-ON-fuh-lay Espresso, Italian for “triumphant,” and For-TEZZ-uh, Italian for “fortress.”
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