Photo by lorigoldberg.

You just kind of knew, given all of the controversy around chef Gillian Clark (that profile by Tim Carman in the Washington Post and the resulting awkward live chat, those videos mocking her customers, we could go on) that when she announced her restaurant, The General Store, had closed – it would be more complicated than it first seemed.

News first broke on Wednesday that the restaurant was closing because the owner of the building owed back taxes and the county was taking back the building. Clark asserted that she and her business partner Robin Smith had been paying rent on time, and it wasn’t their fault that they had to close. And, her other restaurants she is planning to open in the District are still a go, they won’t be affected by The General Store’s closing. Tim Carman told us more of the nitty-gritty of the details: from tax delinquency laws to certificate holders buying the building’s tax lien – you can read more about it in the above link.

And now, the landlord Spiro Gioldasis (who is a restaurateur as well, he owns Pacci Neapolitan Pizzeria in Silver Spring) is telling his side of the story. He told Carman that yes, he does owe the county back taxes, and that the restaurant did close because of the back taxes. But, the reason he couldn’t pay them was simple: The General Store owed him back rent dating to April 2010.

Gioldasis said he couldn’t pay the taxes because they were tied into the monthly rent paid by Clark and Smith. He didn’t have the extra money to pay the taxes without the rent, so the taxes weren’t paid.

What will be next in the saga of Gillian Clark? Time will only tell.