What the F. Martinella Happened?

Cobble Hill Blog reports that downtown Brooklyn deli, and Boar's Head front, F. Martinella has closed up shop.

That was quick.

The deli gained early infamy last fall by hanging out signs and advertising with the boast "Since 1949." That piece of marketing was revealed as fiction, the work of Boar's Head meats, which was using the deli as a showcase for its products. A Lost City reader came up with this theory:

Boar's Head:
CEO: Robert S. Martin
President: Michael Martella
Martin + Martella = Martinella

To this, I added my own bit of detective work as to the initial "F." in "F. Martinella": Boar's Head was founded in 1903 by Frank Brunckhorst. As in F. Brunckhorst. The "Since 1949" bits were subsequently removed.

The place had the bad luck to open right when the recession hit.