MONTREAL- The Crown charged 40-year-old Johnny Koulakis with the second-degree murder of his 86-year-old father, storied restaurateur Tony Koulakis.
Residents of NDG stopped by Cosmo’s diner- the Sherbrooke institution which Koulakis founded- to deliver flowers, cards, and their respects to the family.
“He was Herculean, you know. He was a Greek god,” said John Jordan, an English teacher who worked with Koulakis at the restaurant for four years. “He would come in, he was 76-years-old at the time I think, or older even. Five-thirty in the morning he’d be driving down here from Ville-St-Laurent with his buckets of potatoes.”
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The family revealed that Sunday could be the diner’s last day of operation. Nick Koulakis, who now runs it, will take two weeks off and reassess its future.
“We’re gonna take two weeks off after today and take it from there,” said Mark Biancardi, an employee.
Regulars at the diner didn’t want to believe it.
“NDG won’t let it close,” said Milton Epps, a regular credited with creating the menu item known as the “Volcano.” “The people won’t let it close.”
Koulakis was immortalized in the 2000 film “Man of Grease.” Contacted via email, its director, Ezra Soiferman, issued a prepared statement.
“My heart goes out to his entire family and to the many, many customers who loved Tony so much,” he wrote. “He was a true Montreal legend and I will miss him very much. I will continue to remember all the good times I had with Tony over the 25 years I had known him.”
Johnny Koulakis’ bail hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
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