Scooping up rice with red peas, Mark Gordon doled out the serving on a plate between the curry goat and oxtail.

"This is the real thing,'' he tells a guest at his Farrell Diner, which opened in October.

The restaurant along Roemer Boulevard offers a few all-American foods like hamburgers but serving authentic Jamaican dishes is its true forte. Gordon operates the diner with his extended family.

He and his family came a long way from their original home.

Raised in Kingston, Jamaica's capital, Gordon immigrated to the United States in the mid-'80s and settled with his family in Brooklyn. The 13-year-old found the city served a hefty slice of American culture.

"You get exposed to everything at once,'' he recalled.

Enduring his first winter wasn't the thrill Gordon expected.

"I wanted to go back home right away,'' he said with his Jamaican accent still intact.

Settling in Farrell three years ago, Gordon cooked his favorite native meals for friends. After tasting the zesty food, they encouraged him to start his own restaurant.

To be sure the restaurant's food is spicy. But it isn't seasoned in the fiery hot style that can be found on the West Indies island.

"We tone it down for American tastes,'' Gordon notes.

One of the feature foods served is ackee, a Jamaican fruit that's considered a national dish. Too hard to be eaten raw, the fruit must be cooked and is usually served with codfish.

Sorrel drink, brewed from the acidic flower parts of the sorrel plant, is another refreshment served at the restaurant. It's a favorite around Christmas time.

"It's our version of eggnog,'' said Sylvia Higgins, mother of the owner.

Dried in the sun, sorrel is steeped in hot water with a pinch of ginger and is left to stand overnight. Its taste is somewhat like a mixture of grape and cranberry juice, only smoother.

Escovich fish is another native entree found at the diner. It isn't named after a real fish. Rather, it's any fish that's been fried with onion, pepper, vinegar and oil added on top.

Calaloo, an island vegetable, is also served and is soft like spinach.

Most meals are served with rice and a variety of peas, both staples of a typical Jamaican meal.

All the meat served at the restaurant is pure American but properly treated with island spices. Goat served at the diner hails from local farms. In Jamaica goats are raised by families for future meals.

"In Jamaica we never kill a female animal,'' Mrs. Gordon said. "We keep the females to raise more goats.''

When weather permits, jerk chicken is cooked outside barbecue style.

In addition to lunch and dinner, the restaurant is open for breakfast and serves a traditional American meal of eggs, toast and sausage. But in keeping with its theme, such island delights as liver and salted mackerel also are available.

Next to the diner the family has added an ice cream stand where mostly American flavors are available with grape nut and rum raisin thrown in to give it a touch of island tastes.

Freshly-squeezed lemonade and carrot juice are available all the time.

So far the restaurant has gained a following among those who have visited Jamaica in the past.

"They come here and ask for the food they had while they were there,'' Mrs. Gordon said. "They want to taste it again.''