Arthur Cochran, Jr.

For generations of customers, Sonny Cochran was the familiar welcoming face of the Barn Door Restaurant, first during his nearly five decades as grill master and more recently, as the weekend greeter. "Any time you wanted to feel good, all you had to do was go down to the Barn Door. He made everyone feel better," said longtime patron B.J. "Red" McCombs of Cochran's buoyant spirit. "You could stop by the grill and tell him, 'I've got a toothache or my wife left me,' and he'd say, 'Man, just praise God that he gave you another day, and you take care of yourself,'" recalled McCombs. Arthur "Sonny" Cochran, 78, who started working at the Northside steakhouse shortly after it opened in 1953, died Sunday of cancer. The improbable story about how he was conscripted as a teenager for what proved a lifelong engagement is best told by his nephew Eric Washington. "Sonny told me he was coming in to get some car keys from an uncle, and Mr. Tassos (an original owner) told him that if he didn't have a job, he didn't need to use a car. So he threw Sonny an apron and told him to get to work, and Sonny got to work," recalled Washington, 44, a Barn Door manager. "When he started out, he said, he didn't know a t-bone from a boiled egg, but pretty soon it felt like home," he added. For almost five decades, Cochran performed as maestro with spatula at a large grill in view of the diners. "It was like putting on a show. Everyone can see what you are doing. They'd come up and shake his hand and talk while he was trying to cook, and he really loved that part," said Washington. To former owner David Straus, 91, Cochran was "like a member of the family," as well as being loyal, hardworking and a true virtuoso on the grill. "He could have 30 steaks on, all of 'em different, and how he kept track of all of it, no one could figure out, but everyone got the steak they wanted," he recalled. New owner Randy Stokes, 45, found him an invaluable adviser after he took over. "He knew everything. He was much more than an employee. He was the patriarch and he had the knowledge," he said. Customer I. B. "Porky" Hinton, 78, met Sonny in 1955 and the friendship lasted six decades. "He was a prince among men. His goal was to have everyone happy. He wanted true harmony all the time, and he did everything he could to make it that way," Hinton said.