Tsitsanis: A Taverna in Operation Since 1969 in Prodromos, Paros

Prodromos is one of many stunning villages of Paros, a type of blue-and-white Cycladic goals we shut our eyes and take into consideration through the winter, eagerly awaiting the hour we will get off the ferry once more and lose ourselves in its slender, freshly whitewashed streets.

The taverna run by the Roussos household is situated on the fringe of the village, proper in entrance of what’s now a parking zone. It has been working for greater than half a century, since 1969, when Yiannis Roussos first opened it as a taverna-grocery retailer. At the moment, it’s one of many oldest eateries on the island. Through the years, there have been only a few adjustments. The reins have been handed down by way of the generations, with Yiannis Roussos being succeeded by his son Vlassis and later by his grandson, additionally named Yiannis, within the administration position and with Maria Tzanakopoulou Roussou taking up the cooking from Vasiliki Roussou, the spouse of the founder.

Yiannis’ kids and grandchildren inherited not simply the taverna, but in addition a farm and orchards in Lefkes and Molos. From these holdings, they provide practically all their very own components for the meals they serve, besides through the significantly demanding peak vacationer interval in July and August. They even make their very own cheeses from a mixture of cow’s and goat’s milk, producing each conventional xinomizithra and Parian kefalotyri, two gastronomic gems they served us as an appetizer together with chilly suma (a conventional distillate constituted of grape marc).

From outdoors, the place appears like a typical kafenio, however on the within it’s a conventional little taverna (albeit with a jukebox), and on the again, there’s a cool courtyard with a pergola. We sat on the market, near the courtyard wall and hidden from the solar – they honored us by seating us on the identical desk the place Monica Bellucci had sat two or three years in the past. As for the menu, typically they’ve their very own squab, which they put together both in a tomato stew or grilled. In the summertime, they serve tender string beans with lemon-oil dressing and a Greek salad with splendidly ripe tomatoes and xinomizithra cheese.

They virtually at all times have a couple of servings of native chickpeas slow-cooked in a wood-fired oven, tender and flavorful like meat. In season, they provide artichoke and broad bean stews, they usually even have basic taverna dishes corresponding to meatballs and zucchini fritters, each distinctive. Relying on the day, they could put together rabbit or rooster stewed in tomato sauce with fries or pasta topped with loads of grated kefalotyri. You’ll discover a number of the island’s bottled wines right here as properly.

This text was beforehand printed in Greek at gastronomos.gr.