Puebla Mex Bakery

Half bakery, half grocery, generally very inexpensive — one visit set me back $2.25 for two baked items and some tamarind sweets — so just about anything is worth a try. The pink dots poking through from within a "kaiser roll" looked like guava; in fact, the taste and texture were sweet but uniform, and unrelated to any fruit. A slightly larger pastrylike cake with a bready shell had a very nice, not-too-sweet toasted orange glaze.

El Club Mexicano tamarind pulp balls (3 oz.). were a pair of misshapen spaldeen stand-ins; similar to the Thai version, but softer, larger, and with many seeds, not just one.

Thirsty? You'll find the familiar Jarritos varieties, or you can turn to this Mexican rendition of Squirt (355 ml.; $1), a round-flavored grapefruit soda that's harder and harder to find, except as an import.

Puebla Mex Bakery
(also called Plaza Piaxtla Bakery)
663 Seneca Ave. (Palmetto St.-Gates Ave.), Queens
718-417-4961