When Jessica and Francisco Mejias opened Los Andes Bakery in downtown Sleepy Hollow in 1991, there were some anxious moments.
Weekends were busy, but the small storefront establishment selling specialties from their native Chile was quiet during the week.
Word got out, business began picking up, and now Los Andes has a legion of loyal customers craving the empanadas baked in Sleepy Hollow and at a second location in North Bergen, N.J.
“We can sell, between the two bakeries, about 600, 700 in a slow week,” Jessica said recently. “In a busy week we sell over 1,000 empanadas.” In Chile, she said, empanadas are a Sunday afternoon tradition.
On Chilean Independence Day (Sept. 18) Los Andes sells thousands of the savory pastries filled with either beef, chicken, queso or vegetables. The Chilean-style crescent-shaped pastries baked at Los Andes are larger than some other varieties.
Empanadas de pino
Preparation for their most popular item, the beef empanada, unfolds over two days.
First comes preparing the filling, which is composed of 90 percent lean ground beef, onions, black olives and raisins. Pots containing enough mixture to fill hundreds of empanadas go into the oven for two to three hours at 196 degrees. The ingredients then go into a walk-in refrigerator to cool overnight.
Come morning, dough made from scratch using the same flour that goes into the bakery’s breads is blended with salt, butter and milk in a large mixer.
A sheeter machine flattens the dough so it can be cut into disc-shaped pieces that are filled with the seasoned beef mixture and topped with a slice of hard-boiled egg. The dough is folded and brushed with egg before going into the oven for about 20 minutes until the crust has a golden hue.
Los Andes serves a variety of Chilean-style breads, breakfast and lunch sandwiches, pastries, cakes and beverages. Popular menu items include churrasco, a sandwich on country bread with beef, cheese, avocado tomato and mayo; and alfajor, cookies stuffed with manjar (dulce de leche) and coated with coconut flakes.
Jessica and Francisco hail from Viña del Mar in Chile, where Francisco learned to bake from his Uncle René. Francisco worked at Le Croissant in Manhattan and Il Fornaio in Beverly Hills before he and Jessica opened Los Andes, named for the mountains in their native land.
Even after making countless empanadas over the years, Francisco said the process keeps his memories of his homeland fresh.
“It still brings me back to that bakery” in Chile where he learned to bake under his uncle’s watchful eye.
Los Andes Bakery
180 Valley St., Sleepy Hollow
914-631-3256
@losandesbakery
All photos by Robert Brum.
