In Arabic, Basbousa means “just a kiss,” but Basbousa the restaurant cannot be described as “just” anything. As owner Samara Ferris explains, in just two short years, it has become many things to many people. Encompassing the best of Ferris’s roots—Lebanon and the American South—she has made it her mission to share the vibrant and delicious depth of both cultures.
Sullivan County’s Little Lebanon
Walking into the restaurant on Main Street in Mountaindale, diners fall under the spell of rich blue walls with illustrations of the mountainous region near the Druze village where her Lebanese family originated. Or maybe it’s the bevy of plants and books on every surface, the vast mosaic, or the ornate tapestries and poufs that captivate.
“You can almost look around and kind of imagine what the food’s going to taste like,” Ferris says. “You’re going to have texture. You’re going to have a lot of different flavors, color. There’s greenery and freshness, [and] layers of layers.”
Raised mostly in South Carolina, Ferris’s cultures were amplified by her grandmothers. She remembers her maternal grandmother from Kentucky having a big personality, lots of flair, and making a day of drinking tea, painting her nails, or baking strawberry shortcake. Her paternal grandmother, from Lebanon, was “spirited and rebellious,” Ferris says, “and would stay up until dawn playing cards.” She is also the one who taught Ferris’s mother how to perfect the family’s treasured Lebanese recipes.
“I have always been obsessed with food,” she says. “I even asked for a food-eating contest themed party for my 10th birthday.” In college, she recalls nearly getting booted from campus for “sort of” creating a Lebanese restaurant out of her dorm room. After several years working in professional kitchens in New York and Europe she wanted something more settled. In 2015, a friend brought her to Bashakill Vineyards in Wurtsboro, NY. She met vintner Paul Deninno and fell in love. Although they are no longer married, they continue to operate the vineyard together and she continues to run the on-site eatery as its executive chef.
The opening of Basbousa in 2024 was not just about taking the next step in a professional journey, nor just an opportunity for Ferris to stretch her culinary wings. It was about taking a stand. Deeply concerned about the continued devastation in the Middle East, and misconceptions about its people, she felt the only thing she could do was share the beauty and richness of her culture through its food.
“It felt really important to me to bring the history of my family with me into the current day,” Ferris says. “To be able to show people how beautiful the culture is, the food, [and] give them a sense of place. You know, with art and with trees and with all of the ambiance here, it’s important to show [others] that our culture is not scary, but beautiful, deep, rich, and warm.”
And when it comes to the menu, some of those same signifiers are front and center. Ferris and her co-chef Alec Roche have created a diverse selection of dishes that lend themselves to so many cultural signposts, but specifically those bites that elicit the pickly-smoky-sweet-or-a-dash-of-spice sort of flavors Ferris grew up enjoying.
“In the history of the South, there’s been a lot of infusion of African and Arab spices and ingredients already,” Ferris says. “And in barbecue, there’s star anise and tamarind, which ties to India, Africa, and the Middle East, where all of these cultures have been trading spices for more than a millennium.” Her honey salmon, served with dukkah, and green tahini salad, rest comfortably on a menu that includes kofta (served with grits), Moroccan fried chicken, and flame-broiled kabobs.
As Basbousa nears its second anniversary, it has received attention for its romantic vibe and delicious food. Above and beyond that, she says, “It means a lot to be seen.”
Although people warned her that opening a Lebanese restaurant in a rural town was risky, she knew it was important to represent her culture unapologetically. Opening those doors in Mountaindale invited others to share stories of ancestry, culture, and food, all while discovering just how grey our dividing lines really are.
Basbousa
Mountaindale | @eatbasbousa
