The password is "Chapines."
Monday through Friday, it looks like many other sandwich shops that offer a short-order station and a fridge full of 16-ounce sodas. But on weekends, Antigua Bagels & Deli distinguishes itself with a short, rotating menu that beckons to natives of Guatemala, who call themselves Chapines (cha-Pee-nays). Shown below is the pepian ($7.50), a chicken stew replete with green beans and chunks of carrot, potato, and güisquil (better known in neighboring Mexico as chayote), in a pumpkinseed, pepper, and sesame seed sauce that's tangy but not as hot as that fiery slick would suggest.
Antigua also prepares chuchitos, small corn-husk-wrapped tamales made from a pillowy corn-and-rice masa. The one below featured chicken in a mild pepper sauce; I'm still hoping to try the occasionally available chuchito that incorporates chipilín.
Antigua Bagels & Deli
3903 Fifth Ave. (39th-40th Sts.), Sunset Park, Brooklyn
718-435-2422
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