In a New York hot dog restaurant, dial the right number in a vintage phone booth and it opens to reveal the door to a speakeasy.1 Within Disneyland, at 33 Royal Street, ring the bell and say your name; if you’re on the list, the door will open to the mysterious Club 33.2 And next time you’re in Kerman, California, and you want to access the area’s best sopes, you’ll have to … well, you just have to walk into the Shasta Market to find the secret taquería that was discovered by a state tax agency.
Shasta Market is a mini mart that generally sells beer, tobacco products, soda, lottery tickets, etc. In June 2018, a cigarette and tobacco products inspection was conducted by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA), which is responsible for administering sales and use taxes as well as tobacco, alcohol, fuel, cannabis, and other taxes and fees. The CDTFA discovered the mini mart now included a taquería where there was none before. Forget cigarettes sold without tax stamps, we have unreported sales of hot prepared food3 and an eating area that seats 10–15 people. Swarm! Swarm!
The CDTFA inspected the mini mart’s records and found no evidence that taquería sales had been reported and estimated $73,484 in unreported sales going back through 2017. Shasta Market argued that the taquería was not operating during 2016 through October 2018. However, the CDTFA located a November 2017 Facebook post made by an unrelated third party that included a photo of hot prepared food and the glowing review: “Chicharrón con chile sopes are the best thing in this entire town! #shastamarket.”
During an appeal hearing, the Facebook post was hailed as “highly probative,” and the CDTFA’s assessment was upheld. It probably didn’t help that Shasta Market didn’t provide any evidence supporting its arguments that the taquería wasn’t actually open during the period at issue.
For those who are unfamiliar with sopes, they are traditional Mexican snacks consisting of thick, handmade corn masa patties with pinched, raised edges to hold toppings. They are fried until crispy on the outside and soft inside, then topped with refried beans, cheese, salsa, lettuce, and shredded meat.
So next time Shasta Market decides to sell sopes, they may want to consider setting up a better secret password before people can indulge and swearing them to secrecy. No cell phones allowed.
