Boricua bounty: Jackie's Diner, in Waimalu, serves its signature pastele with Spanish rice and bacalao salad. Advertiser library photo

Jackie's Diner   Jackie's Diner is owned by Jackie (Chong) Torres, who left Seoul with her parents 30 years ago and graduated from Roosevelt. So what is a Korean woman doing making tripe stew, laulau and Puerto Rican pastele? She had a good teacher: her mother-in-law. The elder Mrs. Torres provided the family recipes and helps out at the diner. On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, she and Jackie's mom, Mrs. Chong, sit quietly in the last booth wrapping pastele. A pastele is similar to a Mexican tamale. Locals tend to call it “puh-tell-ay”; in Puerto Rico, they say “pass-tell-ay.” On aluminum foil and ti leaves, they spoon out the masa, a seasoned mixture of grated green bananas. They add a scoop of pork filling (matura), top it with olives, wrap for boiling, then repeat. About a thousand times every week. And locals inhale the results. You can also get dishes like bacalao salad, beef stew, tripe stew and haupia.  98-020 Kamehameha Highway, Waimalu Shopping Center. 484-0999. 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. Cash only. $.