Lien Cuisine

Talk about the seven-year itch.

Almost to the day, seven years after it was raided by federal immigration officials, Acambaro Mexican Restaurant is once again at odds with the government.

This time it’s taxes — $103,024 in state and federal taxes, to be exact. The IRS filed a $44,094 notice of lien in Washington County on Dec. 9 against CC & C Restaurant Inc. (erroneously named C & C Restaurant Inc. in the filing), and when Whispers took a second look, we noticed that the company also faces lien filings from the Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration for $48,360, and from the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services for $10,570.

CC & C, according to state and federal filings, is based at the Acambaro location at 121 N. Thompson St. in Springdale. It’s not clear if CC & C and its principal, Juan Carlos Albarran Morales, operated only the Thompson Street location or if there were additional restaurants. But according to the Department of Finance and Administration, CC & C is no longer in business and has been replaced at the Springdale location by Acambaro Food Inc., an entity controlled by the Reyes family — the family running Acambaro when it was raided by immigration in December 2007.

Let’s get this straight: Acambaro isn’t Chuy’s and it for darn sure isn’t Abuelo’s. But it’s an established Northwest Arkansas chain, a working-man’s Mexican restaurant known for its low-priced lunch plates and reliably good salsa.

We want to see Acambaro continue to thrive, but only if it learns how to play by the rules.