Cosy Grill to close after 45 years

Gilbert Wong sat down once and did the math.

There was a time when his restaurant, the Cosy Grill on Hartzel Road, was so busy it seemed all he did was work. When it opened in 1967 it was one of only two restaurants on the now booming main artery in Merritton. He would welcome a crowd for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and not close until late-night revelers were satiated around 2 a.m. on weekends.

"I worked seven days a week, about 117 hours a week for 20 years," he said, laughing. "I never took a vacation. I had five kids too."

So when Wong and his wife Lilly close the doors of the restaurant for the final time on Feb. 29 neither really knows what they're going to do. The little one-room diner-style Chinese restaurant has been their life for 45 years.

"Maybe we'll travel," Wong said. "I have a sister in San Francisco."

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