A longstanding taqueria in Central Texas will be closing its doors this September after nearly three decades in business. Taqueria Chapala owner Manuel Lopez recently addressed why his East Austin restaurant’s lease was not renewed.
In a Facebook post, Lopez said he and his brother opened Taqueria Chapala 29 years ago on July 1, 1997 at 2101 E. Cesar Chavez in Austin. On May 1, Lopez explained that his landlords came by the restaurant, as they do every month, to collect the rent and tax payments when they handed him a document regarding an outstanding tax balance, which he admits to signing without reading.
“It stated in writing that they were not going to renew my lease, and I wasn’t given any other options,” Lopez wrote in the post. “I never actually read that document—that was my mistake—and I didn’t realize what it said until June 15th, when they verbally told me they would no longer be renting the space to me.”…