Shop Talk: Los Andes Bakery's Jessica Mejias

In 1991, Los Andes (then Valley Bakery) began baking Chilean treats for homesick immigrants. Many years, many patrons, and two more branches later, Jessica and Francisco Mejias, of Ossining, are still putting in the long hours. Always making the rounds between here, Peekskill and North Jersey, you're lucky if you can catch one of this husband-and-wife team in Sleepy Hollow for long. We cornered Jessica when the community was still buzzing about the .

So buy local and go say hello to...

Jessica Mejias, co-owner of

1. Did you feel the earthquake?

JM: I didn't feel it. I wanted to! We're so used to earthquakes in Chile, it would have felt like home.

2. I just read about how generous Chile is being, trying to attract foreigners to come open up businesses there with $40,000 grants and visas. Do you think it's harder here to open up a business now than when you got started?

JM: It's very hard for immigrants here, harder now than it was before. The rules have changed and that makes it difficult. It's harder now to even get a driver's license. Probably 17 years ago, we were the first ones to get this Westchester small business loan, a new program that helped us open our second business. It was a big deal. That wouldn't happen now. 

3. Do you ever wonder if you should have opened a business in Chile instead?

JM: No, we're happy here. it's different; we still miss the family, you're more attached to family in Chile than here. But America's been good to us. And we work hard of course. 

4. It is always busy here; I assume business is good?

JM: It's not easy. In this economy it's harder. But you know, everyone has to eat. We have a lot of customers, we can't complain. At the beginning we did it here because there were a lot of Chileans, but now our customers are about 20 percent from Chile. We have something different; people like it.

5. Make our mouths water. What signature Chilean treats would you recommend?

JM: Our empanadas are different. The ground beef one has onion, a piece of black olive, a couple of raisins, a little piece of boiled egg. We have a lot of dulce de leche in our pastries. The churrasco sandwich is popular; it's steak with cheese, avocado, tomato, mayo on our special bread. All our bread here is from scratch; flour and water.