Talk about an incentive to get out the checkbook: the Minnesota Department of Revenue has just released its list of restaurants, clubs and retailers who are delinquent on their payment of taxes, and they include some high-profile names.
The list is made up of taxpayers who are 10 or more days past due in payment of their liquor, wine and beer sales taxes. If the taxes remain unpaid by Sept. 20, the businesses cannot legally purchase liquor, wine or beer from a wholesaler, manufacturer or brewer.
Among dozens of mom-and-pop joints from Albert Lea to Winona, the list also includes La Belle Vie, Bryant-Lake Bowl, Roat Osha, Jack's, Peninsula and Thom Pham's Wondrous Azian Kitchen in Minneapolis; Fabulous Fern's, El Burrito Mercado, Solo Vino and the Town & Country Club in St. Paul; Prairie Ale House in Eden Prairie; and the Hanger Room in Willernie.
In addition, the department also issued a list of establishments that remain from prior months. They include Fusion (the April list) and duplex (April list) in Minneapolis; and Roman Anthony's (May list) in White Bear Lake.
Several names on this month's list appear to be no longer in business. The phone is disconnected at Curryup Foods in Maple Grove, and at NorthCoast in Wayzata, the restaurant's website is no longer functioning, the phone goes unanswered and its link on Open Table, the online reservation clearinghouse, is listed as temporarily offline.
In addition, Bloomington's Purple Sandpiper, also on the list, closed last month; the Independent in Calhoun Square in Minneapolis, which has been a fixture on the list since November 2010, turned out the lights this summer.
For the full list, go here.
