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Idiosyncratic restaurateur shuts down after decades of renown.
"Why are you here," Morris Martick asked a reporter last week without a drop of humor, rancor or sarcasm in his voice, "are you writing my obituary?"
Of course, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of Mr. Martick's demise - even those of his own initiative have been greatly exaggerated.
For generations of Baltimoreans, Mr. Martick - owner, chef and operator of the quirky yet highlyregarded Martick's Restaurant Francais at 214 W. Mulberry St.has been an exclusive member of that pantheon of eccentric, dyed-in-the-wool Charm City characters (Dominic "Mimi" DiPietro, Abe Sherman, Frank "Mr. Diz" Rosenfeld, "Wild Bill" Hagy, etc.) that are rapidly becoming a vanishing breed.
But after nearly four decades, and despite his phone machine's message, Mr. Martick recently closed his bistro (a longtime favorite of director John Waters). Meanwhile, because of housing code violation citations, Mr. Martick said he is scrambling to repair the mid-19th century building that formerly housed the restaurant.
The building was purchased by Mr. Martick's Polish-Jewish immigrant parents in 1917, and he was born on the second floor. His family ran a grocery store, speakeasy and tavern there for decades (Billie Holiday reportedly once was a patron and sang there), until Mr. Martick decided to transform the establishment into a French restaurant in July 1970, much to the delight of restaurant critics, epicureans and Bohemians.
A lifelong bachelor noted for his Spartan lifestyle, the fit and trim Mr. Martick...