Kosta Alexandropoulos has a philosophy when it comes to food.
One of his favorite Greek words, philoxenia, means love of strangers. That’s the environment he hopes to foster at his restaurants, which he described as the intersection of food and company.
“I walk up and there’s two tables talking,” he said. “They just met each other. Next thing you know, they’re pulling the tables together. Next thing you know, they’re ordering a bottle of wine. And it’s just so fun to see.”
Early last month, a new blue sign appeared on the papered-over door of the shuttered Vibes Burgers on Main Street in Concord: “Coming soon, Yamas Greek Eatery.”
Inside, long benches were being built as kitchen renovations progressed and appliance installations took place. The restaurant, which will be Alexandropoulos’s third under this name, aims to provide a middle ground between expensive Greek fare and cheaper fast food. He wants anyone, regardless of financial constraints, to be able to enjoy the food and the atmosphere.
“I just love fresh ingredients, and I love Greek food,” said Alexandropoulos, whose parents moved from Greece to Germany before he was born. “It’s so simple. It’s a lot of olive oil, it’s a lot of oregano. The simplicity of it is just so amazing.”
He grew up in Germany with his mother cooking all her favorite Greek specialties. When he was 18, he moved to the U.S. and enlisted in the military, carrying his love of Mediterranean cuisine with him. After six years of active duty, he became a commercial fisherman and then transitioned to law enforcement, spending several years as a police officer in Alaska, where he was stationed.
After meeting his wife and moving to her home state of New Hampshire, then to Idaho, Alexandropoulos transitioned careers again. His cousin owned a Mediterranean restaurant near where his family was living, and eventually he decided to start one of his own. The first Yamas Greek Eatery opened its doors nearly a decade ago in Walla Walla, Washington.
When the pandemic struck, Alexandropoulos’s family moved back to New Hampshire to be closer to his in-laws. He decided to carry Yamas with him. He sold the Walla Walla location to his younger cousin and got to work opening a restaurant in Plymouth and establishing local connections.
“We have a Greek distributor in Boston,” he said. “I buy a lot of stuff that actually gets imported from Greece. And even oregano is from Greece most of the time.”
For him, nothing beats the feeling of cooking food for others to enjoy. He often leaves the kitchen with his apron on and a towel draped over his shoulder to greet customers and ask them about their dining experience. In Concord, he hopes to do the same.
“This is my vision. This is my dream. And I think Concord is going to be amazing, and I hope this town really welcomes us. And they’re going to have a great experience,” he said.
The Concord location, which he hopes will open by the end of January, will become the “mothership” of the business. Alexandropoulos said he will be splitting time between the two locations to keep things running smoothly.
He has trained chefs to cook in his absence and brought on a manager who started working for Yamas while studying at Plymouth State University. He also just opened a seafood restaurant in Plymouth called The Codfather, hiring a chef he worked closely with in Walla Walla to run the kitchen.
At Yamas, which means “cheers” in Greek, the bar area fits with the name and captures that same vibe, he said. He invented several seasonal specialty cocktails to add to the atmosphere, like the Toasted Maple Martini and the Merry Mule. The Yamarita is a Greek take on a traditional margarita — and the eatery’s top-selling drink.
Alexandropoulos gets creative in other ways, too. He wants the menu to hold something that appeals to everyone.
“I get a lot of customers where you can tell their wife dragged them in — the meat and potato eaters — so I added a few things for those kinds of people,” he said. “I have a pita smash burger. That’s a smash burger in a pita, and believe it or not, it ended up becoming one of the top sellers.”
The long benches lining the restaurant walls are intended to create a family atmosphere at the eatery. He also offers a year-round discount for veterans, wanting it to be a space where anyone feels welcome.
If all goes according to plan — and Alexandropoulos is feeling optimistic — he hopes to continue to grow Yamas into a small New England name.
“I think we’re gonna keep going, stay on 93,” he said. “My dream would be to be eventually in Boston and make this our little brand and have them all be the same, this middle-of-the road, nothing’s-gonna-break-the-bank, amazing place with amazing drinks and just great service.”