Description
Back in 1973, United Missouri Bank razed the downtown building that housed Kansas City's best carriage-trade department store, Emery Bird Thayer. The bank saved a number of architectural relics from the store — brass elevator cages, a few leaded-glass windows, carved brownstone column ornaments — and used them as drawing cards for a lobby-level upscale restaurant in the UMB branch in south Kansas City. The name EBT honors the old department store, and, in keeping with the nostalgic elements of the décor, it's one of the last restaurants in town to offer classic dishes such as Caesar salad, pepper steak and bananas Foster, still prepared tableside. Although it's not fancy or shockingly expensive, EBT remains a "special occasion" venue because of the pianists who perform almost nightly and the fresh flowers on the table.
