Cambodian restaurant stirs Cape diners

Bopha Samms of Stir Crazy started with 19 seats; today her restaurant holds 136. (Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff)

October 1, 2008
By Christie Lowrance
Boston Globe Correspondent

POCASSET - In this Bourne village between Falmouth and the Cape Cod Canal, Bopha Samms runs the only Cambodian restaurant in the area. She explains on her menu what the dream of serving food to others means to her. As a teenager in a Khmer Rouge labor camp, she says, "I thought, one day if I ever have freedom, I will make sure people can enjoy my food."

The appeal of her cooking has been evident since she first opened Stir Crazy nearly 20 years ago, and today the popular 136-seat restaurant has a deeply loyal fan base. Cambodian food, says Samms, is generally less spicy than Thai, although it utilizes "pretty much the same spices and ingredients as Thai food. We use a lot of vegetables, a lot of lemongrass, and garlic. We use very little meat."

As a child in Cambodia, Samms loved to watch the women creating feasts for a gathering. Today, her recipes are derived from those memories, from years of experimentation to re-create the texture, consistency, and flavors she recalls. Samms's piquant scallion, peanut, and curry sauces accompany egg rolls and other menu staples, such as shrimp khemara, fried tofu triangles, and nhem shross, a tapioca-rice wrap densely packed with noodles, vegetables, shrimp, fresh mint, and basil. "I tell people not to add any salt or pepper until you taste my food," she says. "Then I say, see, nothing is missing!"

A favorite dessert among native Cambodians is palm fruit pudding. "It reminds me of home," says Samms.

In 1981, Samms came to Cape Cod, where she worked as a nanny for Gordy and Catherine Pierce of Bourne. Eventually she found employment doing restaurant prep work, dishwashing, and cooking. Samms, who speaks in rapid, animated English, got a GED certificate in Bourne, and attended Cape Cod Community College to learn restaurant management. Eight years after her arrival here, she financed and opened a tiny 19-seat restaurant on Main Street, Buzzards Bay.

"When I first opened, I thought it was going to take a long time for people to accept my food, but I turn around and people are lined up," she says. In those early days, she did the cooking and had help from family. A brother waited tables weeknights, for example, and another joined him on weekends.

Now in her third location, Samms likes balancing work and family life that includes husband, Sybonard, sons Khemara, 25, and Chinda, 15, and daughter, Chrisna, 23, and extended family. One day, after five years of lunch, dinner, and takeout, she reached a turning point. The cook didn't show up and the dining room was full. "My son was holding onto my foot crying, because he wanted me. Outside were my children, 10 and 8, chasing each other around the parking lot with a stick. I thought, what am I doing to my children?"

The next morning, she decided to close for lunch. "People had to understand the priority is not just about success, it is the family you have to raise," she says. Business at night doubled.Stir Crazy now has seven employees, including a chef. In rare free moments, Samms bikes along the Cape Cod Canal, and sometimes stops to find a comfortable rock and take out a bottle of soap bubbles she carries to entertain her grandchildren. "I blow bubbles and enjoy the beauty and relax," she says. "Very little things make me happy."

Stir Crazy, 626 MacArthur Blvd. (Route 28), Pocasset, 508-564-6464, www.stircrazy.com.

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BEEF LOCK LACK RECIPE

One of Bopha Samms's most popular menu items, this colorful dish is traditionally served with jasmine rice or crusty rolls. At the end of cooking, Samms adds 1 tablespoon of fried shallots to the beef, which you can make in hot oil or buy at an Asian market. If increasing these quantities, cook them in separate batches. This does not make a generous serving.

1 pound beef sirloin or tenderloin tips, cut into strips
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 large cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
Pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
Juice of 1 large lime
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 bunch watercress, stemmed, or 1 head Boston lettuce, separated into leaves
1 large tomato, cut into 8 slices
1 medium pickling cucumber, cut into 8 slices
1 red onion, cut into 8 thin slices
1 piece (2 inches) ginger root, sliced
1 scallion, cut into 1-inch slices

1. In a bowl, combine the meat, 1/2 teaspoon of the sugar, oyster sauce, 1/3 of the garlic, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil; stir well and set aside.

2. In another bowl, combine lime juice, 1/2 teaspoon of the sugar, salt, more pepper, and 1/3 of the garlic.

3. On a platter, arrange watercress or lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and onion.

4. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the ginger and remaining garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute, taking care not to burn them.

5. Add the remaining oil to the pan. Add the meat and marinade. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes or until the meat is cooked through.

6. Turn off the heat, add the scallion and 1 tablespoon of the lime juice mixture. Stir well.

7. Spoon the meat mixture onto the vegetables and greens. Use the remaining lime juice mixture as a dip. Adapted from Stir Crazy.