There will be a few changes at the Thistle Inn in Boothbay Harbor this summer, according to owner Max Ross.

Ross and his wife, Jennifer, have owned the inn and eatery on Oak Street since 2006.

There is a new executive chef, a new pastry chef, and there will soon be a few hundred new wines.

Executive Chef Nick Krunkkala started around a week ago after previous chef, Tony Bickford, left to open his own restaurant in Wiscasset.

Krunkkala has cooked for as long as he can remember.

“I learned to cook at a young age because my mother was a nurse, so I had to fend for myself a lot,” he said. “And I always enjoyed cooking for people. It just made sense to make it a career.”

The chef, who has worked in restaurants in New York City and Long Island, where he attended the Culinary Academy of Long Island, is originally from Cape Elizabeth. He previously owned a restaurant in Yarmouth, the highly acclaimed Oscar's New American, and before that he was the opening chef at the Fog Bar & Cafe in Rockland.

Krunkkala said he stayed in New York for nine years — longer than he had intended. “I always wanted to get back to Maine,” he said.

The new chef is slowly making changes to the Thistle's menu.

“I'm going on what Max and Tony did as far as building up a big clientèle,” he said. “This summer I hope to expand on it and use a lot of local farmers who I know, and have used before.”

The menu at Oscar's New American changed weekly or every two weeks.

“I went with what was fresh,” Krunkkala said. “I change my mind frequently depending on what was fresh. I'm bringing that style here.”

The Thistle's new pastry chef, Alex Tallen, was trained in Paris at the Ritz Escoffier Culinary School. She lived in Paris for 16 years with her Parisian husband before they moved to Boothbay Harbor with their two children. Her husband travels back and forth between Boothbay Harbor and Paris, where he is an actor.

After graduating from the culinary school, Tallen apprenticed in the kitchen at the Ritz, where she specialized in pastry, but also had training in regular chef duties. After that she helped open a restaurant in Paris called Le Bal Cafe.

The delicacies Tallen will be preparing for the Thistle will depend a lot on what is fresh and seasonal, the chef said.

“I'll be using the wonderful strawberries and raspberries and blueberries, and always something decadent and chocolate, of course,” Tallen said. “You can't have a dessert menu without something rich and delicious.”

There is also fresh, homemade ice cream in the Thistle's future, and “a delicious Greek yogurt mousse that we'll serve with a blueberry crème anglaise,” Tallen said.

The Thistle chefs make all the breads, including a cinnamon toast one, a brioche and a crunchy dinner bread.

“You'll be hard pressed to find anything that isn't handmade here,” Ross said. “I really appreciate that about the staff we have.”

Krunkkala added that the main focus is to make everything from scratch, as much as feasible.

“We want to try to use as many local ingredients as possible,” he said. “You can tell the difference. If the people who are cooking are using fresh ingredients and have put a lot of love into it, you know it.”

Mary Lou Koskela will continue acting as hostess and dining room manager.

“I'm the person who says hi to everybody and chats them up,” Koskela said. “It's a lot of fun. It's a real ‘people person job’ and I like that.”

There are some big changes going on with the wine list at the Thistle too. Ross has a longstanding relationship with fine wines.

His proudest achievement is the Grand Award from Wine Spectator magazine, when he was the sommelier at the Wauwinet Hotel on Nantucket.

“The wine list there is about 1,500 labels,” he said. “There are only 74 awards worldwide. It was a tremendous experience being exposed to all these world class wines that you usually only read about.” Ross said this was when he got serious about the wine industry.

Ross went on to become the wine director at Radius in Boston, where he received an award for Best Wine List from Boston Magazine in 2001. He was a wine wholesaler on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard before moving to Maine, and he holds an advanced certificate from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust based in the UK.

There are around 200 wine labels in place now at the Thistle. Ross is looking to expand to around 500.

“I want to get some nice representations of wines from around the world,” he said.

One of the wines on his list now is a $425 bottle of Champagne.

“It will sell,” he said. “It may sound foolish, but this is actually a good price for that bottle. I'm very conscious about the pricing. The same wines can be 25 percent more expensive in New York.”

Ross went to Oregon last year for Oregon Pinot Camp. It is an invite-only event with around 200 people from around the world for an intensive three-day seminar.

“It's a hoot,” he said. “It's named for the pinot noir grape, which is the primary grape grown there. The best pinot noir in the country is from Oregon.”

The Thistle will have one of the more extensive wine lists in the state of Maine, according to Ross.

The Thistle is serving dinners five days a week now, and will be open seven days a week during the summer, after Memorial Day, with a happy hour every day. Everything in the bar (drinks) is half price from 5-6 p.m., except for bottles of wine. There will also be a pub menu in the summer months.