Step Inside The Temple of Grease, Where Breakfast Dreams Come True

"I'm the king of potatoes!" Nick Koulakis, co-owner of The Famous Cosmos, exclaims while cutting boiled potatoes into a hash as they sizzle on his miniscule restaurant's flattop. His father Tony Koulakis, a.k.a. the Man of Grease himself, originally opened the joint in 1967 with only eight swivel stools. Tony immigrated to Quebec from Crete in the 1950s and was the reason people came around in the first place and eventually justified the 'famous' in his restaurant's name.

After working in a few Mile End spots, he opened his own tiny diner with customer service in mind. He understood N.D.G., the poorer English-speaking neighbourhood where he set up shop. According to Nick, his dad used to sell a full breakfast for $2.50 when it was double the price elsewhere. He acted like everyone's granddad and was on a first name basis with entire families of regulars. This attitude earned Tony regular on-air shout-outs from a DJ at local radio station CHOM FM, and people came in to say hi, to have breakfast as an afterthought. His approach was the type that breeds loyalty.

Since his untimely death in 2013, a photo of Tony surrounded by cut-out hearts hangs in the diner. His legacy is mostly calories since they don't make Greek food, and appropriation is an inherent part of their story. Take the aforementioned potatoes. While these home fries are a local legend, Nick is the first to admit it's not his family's recipe. Decades ago, after working in a Florida diner, his aunt brought the idea back north with her. Then there's Cosmos' most famous dish, the mishmash, borrowed from a renowned Montreal Jewish eatery.

The basic explanation behind this culinary picking and choosing comes back to customer service. When a client requested a mishmash decades ago, Tony Koulakis asked what it containedand whipped one up. There are no rules, everything goes, and Nick will still let friends add their own ingredients to his cooking if they please. That said, the menu hasn't changed much since the early days when Tony decided to churn out all breakfast all the time. That's good news for the weekend party crowd that drags its hungover ass out of bed on Saturdays, needs more salt than is in the kitchen shaker, and stumbles its way to the diner. According to Steve, the mishmash is the ultimate hangover meal.

The beloved Creation (invented by Nick in the 70s) is a bit lighter, if only healthy in comparison. In the 2002 documentary about The Famous Cosmo's, Man of Grease, a lover of the gargantuan mishmash bought himself a serving of the egg, tomato, onion, cheese, and four meats dish, and brought it to a lab to evaluate its caloric content. Without the toast, it's around 1,800 calories. But with challah bread, a bagel, and Russian rye in the house, it's worth not skipping the gluten.

While they might not have a website, the internet has certainly been kind to Cosmos. It's reminded non-NDG Montrealers of the greasy spoon and brought in tourists from around the world. While the area has seen new, hipper spots opening their doors, this remains the primary excuse to head down Sherbrooke Street.

As for Nick, there's not one place where he calls himself a regular. "I don't have a Cosmos. I always wanted to find one so I could be a regular too." Yet being at the helm of arguably the most revered breakfast spot in town isn't half bad. "After being in the business for 50 years, it's like our own cult." With their brand of adoration, that doesn't feel like such a stretch, and if there's a unifying subject of worship here, it's the same as when Tony first set out to feed his followers: grease.