WESTBOROUGH – In 1946, Harry Cohen decided to change careers.
Cohen had been working as a self-employed house painter, but he’d been diagnosed with diabetes. Painting became a burden, and ladders were too heavy to carry. So, he decided to open a small restaurant and started renting a “small shack” on Route 9 near White City in Shrewsbury.
At first, the business was all about hot pastrami sandwiches and named “Harry’s Famous Hot Pastrami.” Using his painting skills, he would line up rows of rye bread, then use a paint brush to coat each slice with mustard. The sandwiches quickly became popular, with crowds of people visiting the restaurant on any given day. He created a seven-step recipe for hand-cut onion rings (still used today) and other menu items were added, including fish-and-chips, scallops, and fried clams…