The Prickly Pear in Hackettstown owes more than $150,000.
A Hackettstown restaurant that closed abruptly this fall hadn't paid rent since last December, and only sporadically the year before that, according to a lawsuit from the property owner.
The Prickly Pear owes about $153,500 total in rent and about $650 in water and sewer charges, says the lawsuit filed last month at state Superior Court in Belvidere.
The restaurant at 80-30 Main Street, which featured contemporary American cuisine, was owned by Joseph and Linda Andes and opened in 2006.
The 2,400-square-foot establishment was under a 2011 lease with property owner 80 Main Plaza, the lawsuit says. Payments allegedly began defaulting in December 2014 and stopped completely a year later.
Lehigh Valley's best pierogi: The finalists
The restaurant's phone number is no longer in service. Its website is still running, but Google lists it as permanently closed.
The closing came as a surprise to residents, according to online chatter that began around mid-October on social media and the HackettstownLife.com forum. A September cooking class at Prickly Pear was one of the prizes in the Hackettstown Business Improvement District's restaurant week in July.
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.