More Than Bread Rises Between 2 Area Bakers

Let us call this tale the Battle Over Baguettes.

On one side is Marvelous Market, a specialty store favored by Washington's food lovers. On the other is Breadline, a District sandwich shop and wholesale bakery with some foodie credentials of its own.

The two companies are embroiled in a lawsuit over what Breadline claims is $44,000 in unpaid bills for deliveries of baguettes. The suit is slated to be heard in Superior Court this week.

At the center of the dust-up is Washington entrepreneur Mark Furstenberg, who founded both businesses but now owns neither. He filed the first of two lawsuits months ago, pitting his two former businesses against each other.

"I think it's horrible and ironic and a little saddening," Furstenberg said in a phone interview last week. "I've not always been competent in business, but I've tried hard to be honorable."

We'll take this one from the beginning:

Furstenberg founded Marvelous Market in 1990, bringing high-quality, handmade bread to Washington. His first store near the corner of Connecticut and Nebraska avenues NW was a hit, with customers lining up out the door to buy their two-loaf limit. But Furstenberg expanded the business too rapidly and filed for bankruptcy in 1994, losing control of Marvelous Market.

Investors Michael Meyer and Chris Brookfield took over the ailing retail operation. Three years later, Furstenberg reappeared on Washington's food scene, opening Breadline, which quickly became a popular lunchtime destination on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Then last summer, Meyer announced that Marvelous Market would no longer make its own bread, saying it simply couldn't keep up with customer demand. So it started buying most of its bread from rival Uptown Bakers -- but turned to Breadline to make its French baguettes.

Furstenberg said he was depressed after the loss of Marvelous Market and "went through a very bad time of mourning." But he was excited by the prospect of baking bread for his old store.

Yet two people familiar with the case said there was tension and distrust between Furstenberg and the management of Marvelous Market. Furstenberg denied those claims, saying it was "wonderful" when Marvelous Market approached him about the baguettes.

Wonderful, that is, until a row over money erupted.