http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809190382State seizes West Nyack restaurant for failing to pay taxes
By Hema Easley
The Journal News • September 19, 2008
WEST NYACK - A Mexican restaurant that hosted a segment of the "Kitchen Nightmares" program and recently was the scene of a stabbing was closed yesterday for the second time for failing to pay state taxes.
Clarkstown police and state Department of Taxation and Finance officials came to Fiesta Sunrise Restaurant on North Route 303 about 1 p.m. and told employees they were shutting the restaurant. The officials posted notices on the main entrance, had locks on the restaurant changed, and entered the premises to make an inventory of goods.
The restaurant was closed the first time in July 2007 for failing to pay state taxes from September 2006 to February 2007, said Susan Burns, a spokeswoman for the taxation and finance department. It was allowed to reopen after it paid its dues in full.
This time, the restaurant owed $29,775 to the state for March 2007 through February. It has paid its Clarkstown town taxes of $14,721; school taxes of $22,978 are not due until the end of the month, the town's tax department said.
Burns said the owner of the restaurant was given notice in July, and was informed that the state could seize the establishment if taxes were not paid in full.
"This tool of seizure is the usually the last resort," said Burns.
She said the state hoped the business would pay what it owned. If not, she said, its assets could be auctioned off at a later date to recoup the taxes.
Yesterday, the restaurant was deserted. A notice pasted on the door read: "Warning - This property has been seized for nonpayment of taxes and is now in the possession of the state."
While police and tax authorities were still inside, the owner, Patricia Zaldivar, arrived to smooth over problems with officials.
"We're just a little behind on sales tax," Zaldivar said before entering the restaurant. "I'll try to get money and pay. Times are tough, the recession. But we'll work it out."
The restaurant, previously named Grill 303, has been struggling for the past few months and has been keeping its bar open until early morning to attract customers, police said. It is near the Route 59/303 interchange, across from the Palisades Center.
In February, the restaurant was host to Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares," a FOX-TV show where Ramsay - the celebrity chef from Britain who owns more than 25 restaurants around the world and is known for his bad temper and foul mouth - helps fix restaurants that are on their last legs.
Ramsay revamped the decor and the menu. The show was expected to air in the fall.
At the time, Zaldivar said she put her life savings "and more" into the restaurant and she was elated when she was chosen to be on the show, even if it meant revealing personal and financial details. "I just felt like that was my last resort," she was quoted as saying. "I think it needed a big change."
Last month, the restaurant was the scene of a stabbing in which a New Jersey teenager was assaulted and stabbed four times after a fight. A White Plains man was arrested.
Yesterday afternoon, John Makula of Nanuet and two of his friends stood in the restaurant's parking lot as tax officials and police went about their business.
They came to the restaurant to park two of their cars before heading off to the Norwalk Boat Show in Connecticut. The friends planned to return yesterday evening to dine at the restaurant before going home.
Within minutes of asking the restaurant's permission to park their cars, Makula said, a fleet of police police cars and tax officials arrived to close the establishment.
"We were planning to have quesadillas," said Michael Kraus of Blauvelt, one of Makula's friends.
"There goes our dinner," Makula said. "We'll have to have steak somewhere."
