Thalassa sits on a parcel of land Yannis Veneris’ father grew capers on for forty years. In 2009 we rebuilt the small storehouse into seven covered tables. Today there are twenty-two, and the boats still land at 7 — the philosophy hasn’t moved.
In the spring of 2009 the storehouse on the upper terrace still had a dirt floor and a roof of corrugated tin. Yannis had come back from six years in Athens kitchens; Marina had come from Tinos with a wine list in her head and no cellar to put it in. They laid the drystone by hand over two winters, using the same caper terraces Yannis’ grandfather Dimitrios had worked, and opened with seven covered tables and one boat.
Fifteen seasons later there are twenty-two tables, three boats, a half-acre garden and a hundred and forty bins in the cellar. What has not changed is the order of the day: the caiques land at Houlakia between 6:30 and 7:30, the basins are washed by nine, the board is written by half past, and the kitchen closes when the last lemon is gone.
We are open from late April to mid-October. Off-season, Marina runs the Thursday tastings in the cellar and Yannis goes out on the boats.