photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The Salty Iguana Mexican restaurant at 4931 W. Sixth St., is pictured on Feb. 27, 2025.

Updated at 10:45 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 27

One of Lawrence’s larger Mexican restaurants is closed, and its assets have been seized by the Kansas Department of Revenue in an effort to collect more than $100,000 in unpaid sales and liquor drink taxes.

The Salty Iguana Mexican restaurant in the shopping center at the southwest corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive had bright red “seized” signs on its entrances Thursday morning. A business card on one of the signs pointed vendors and other interested parties to the “warrant execution” division of the Kansas Department of Revenue.

Officials with the Kansas Department of Revenue on Thursday morning confirmed that the department had taken seizure actions against the Salty Iguana’s Lawrence and Prairie Village restaurants on Wednesday.

The department said via email that the Lawrence restaurant owed $103,204 in unpaid sales and liquor taxes, while the Prairie Village location had $102,160 in unpaid taxes. Both cases against the restaurants date back to early 2024, according to documents provided by the department.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

A sign posted on the door of Lawrence’s Salty Iguana restaurant is shown on Feb. 27, 2025.

“KDOR’s policy and practice is to work with taxpayers in delinquent status to voluntarily enter into repayment agreements,” the department said in a statement. “It is only after these efforts and multiple failed collections attempts that the department is forced to execute a tax warrant.”

The seizures included all known bank accounts, any cash at the restaurants’ premises, business inventory, as well as personal property belonging to the owner, the department said. The cases list both Lawrence and Prairie Village-based corporations as owners of the respective restaurants. The department also listed individual owners: Daniel L. Chandler, Carlsbad, California; Matthew Zych, Overland Park; and Stephen W. Conrad, Kansas City, Missouri, for both restaurants.

As for the fate of the Salty Iguana, it could be the end for a Lawrence restaurant that has approximately a couple of decades in the Lawrence market. I couldn’t find our article of when the Salty Iguana opened in Lawrence, but I found articles dating back to 2008 reporting on events at the Lawrence restaurant.

It was a high-profile restaurant for a long time. Its Iguana Dip — white pepper cheese and tortilla chips — was one of its signature dishes. The restaurant hosted lots of KU events over the years, and at one point had KU coach Bill Self as one of its local advertising personalities, although that hasn’t been the case recently.

The restaurant is part of a small, regional chain founded by KU supporter Chandler in 1992, according to various media reports. The restaurant’s first location was in the Johnson County community of Prairie Village. That Prairie Village restaurant is closed, but I’m unclear on whether the company’s restaurant in Independence, Missouri, remains open. The company hasn’t acknowledged the closings of the Lawrence and Prairie Village restaurants on its website or social media. The company in September did announce the closing of its Olathe restaurant.

If the Salty Iguana indeed is done for good in Lawrence, which seems likely, that will leave a large space available in the shopping center. It was one of the largest tenants of the shopping center at 4931 W. Sixth St., which also is home to Six Mile Chop House, Morningstar Pizza, ProPrint, Eileen’s Colossal Cookies and several other businesses.

The Kansas Department of Revenue said employees, vendors or other entities that may have left property in the restaurants can call the department at 785-250-5084 for assistance.