Stalk Steakhouse in Eagle River must pay back taxes to keep its liquor license

For a steakhouse, the liquor license is close to sacred — no license, no bar, no wine with the ribeye. So when the city wants a business's attention over unpaid taxes, blocking that license is a powerful lever. This week, Anchorage is pulling it on Stalk Steakhouse in Eagle River.

The restaurant owes back taxes to the municipality, and until it pays, the Assembly is moving to freeze its liquor-license renewal — a "conditional protest" that tells the state to hold the paperwork until the debt clears. The moment the taxes are paid, the hold lifts automatically. No payment, no renewal.

And it's not just the small operators. At the same meeting, the Assembly took up the identical move against four Fred Meyer package stores — at Muldoon, Dimond, Abbott Road, and Old Glenn Highway — all over unpaid city taxes. State law requires the Assembly to check whether a business is behind on its taxes every time a liquor license comes up for renewal, which makes the license the city's built-in collection tool.

Stalk gets a chance to make its case at a public hearing July 7. But the way out is simple, and it runs through the tax office: pay what's owed, and the license goes through.