Anyone cruising on the Westside knows there’s only one place to stop if they’re craving pasteles or gandule rice. Jake’s Snack Wagon can be found from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sundays at Salt Pond Beach Park in Hanapepe. The
Anyone cruising on the Westside knows there’s only one place to stop if they’re craving pasteles or gandule rice. Jake’s Snack Wagon can be found from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sundays at Salt Pond Beach Park in Hanapepe.
The orange painted wagon with white lettering was established by Jake Kamibayashi 40 years ago.
“My dad’s dream was to start a snack wagon during retirement,” said Ron Kamibayashi, Jake’s son.
Jake and with his wife Francisca would set up their shop on the Westside, making it a lunch-time staple for residents and hungry beach goers. When they passed away, the business was passed down to Jake’s grandchild, Sherita.
“The business was offered to the children first, but everybody said ‘no, Sherita is the one,’” said Ron. “She has been working inside the wagon since she was 15 years old.”
Sherita kept the name to honor her family and the legacy they left behind.
“People still ask me how (my grandma) is, but I have to tell them she passed away and they’re so sad,” Sherita said.
“There’s still people who come to the wagon since they were five or six years old because it’s the same food, same recipe, same everything.”
Sherita learned how to make her grandmother’s mouthwatering gandule rice and pasteles by watching her in the kitchen since she was five years old.
“There’s no formula,” said Marlynn Kamibayashi, Jake’s daughter and Sherita’s mother. “She knows what to do and how much to measure by watching. It’s like old kine cooking.”
Even though the lunch wagon is open for a few hours each week, Sherita spends countless hours prepping her ingredients, which includes cubing the pork and peeling green bananas. Her brother, Kysen Felipe, also works to serve up tasty morsels inside of Jake’s Snack Wagon.
“I wanted to carry on the Sunday tradition like my grandma did at Salt Pond,” Sherita said.
The wagon’s signature are its pork pasteles ($3) and gandule rice ($3), but the wagon also serves burgers ($3 to $3.50), corn chowder ($3.50) and shoyu chicken ($7.50).
Sherita juggles two other but a passion for food is what drives her to keep her grandfather’s snack wagon open.
“If I didn’t have a passion, I wouldn’t be doing it.”
Jake’s Snack Wagon is open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sundays at Salt Pond Beach. The wagon accepts cash only.