Chiles rellenos at the Vianny Vero & Bere Mexican Store. — Photos by Scarlett Lindeman

There is no lack of specialized Latin American ingredients in Bushwick. It is easier to find a pound of ancho chiles, the pungent herb, papalao, or jars of smutty huitlacoche than a good baguette.

Vianny Vero & Bere Mexican Store is just one of the many. A narrow bodega, a corridor really, packed to the brim with imported Mexican products and a tiny restaurant in back, the place to stock up before perfecting your salsa picante.

	Vianny Vero & Bere Mexican Store 250 Wyckoff Avenue 718-418-1650 Food: $2-$10
	Vianny is stocked to the rafters with Mexican products. Click to see more.

Luis Romero has operated the shop for the past twenty years, since 1989, when robberies were much more common and he had to replace the corrugated steel that covers the storefront when it was damaged in a break-in. Now, “it is much more calm, quiet,” he told me, “and changing quickly.” But there have always been jars of the apricot-like fruit tejocotes, essential to the Mexican holiday ponche, bags of roasted peanuts, and dried petals of the hibiscus flower used to make the tart scarlet drink, jamaica.

Tiptoe past the bags of dried chiles — guajillo, morita, and arbol, the rows of Mexican brand Kool-Aid, and up a couple of stairs. On a platform at the back of the store there is a miniscule restaurant, a couple tables and chairs and a kitchen turning out decent chilaquiles, (fried tortillas simmered in salsa), tacos, and tostadas. Mexican delivery men and cooks from other local taquerías are there, slicing into dainty gorditas, flattened corn pancakes slicked with beans and a crumble of dry white cheese.

Order the chiles rellenos, plump and fresh, resting under a tomato sauce seasoned with bay and avocado leaves. Norteño polka songs dominate the radio but an occasional Mexican goth-pop song will slink from the stereo. The lead singer will sound just like D.F.-born Robert Smith, which makes the horchata taste just a little sweeter.