Kansas City Blog

BY OWEN MORRIS

Whoever coined the term "pissing away money" would have felt right at home in the bathroom of Teller's, the upscale Lawrence restaurant. Long before it was Teller's, the building was known as the The First National Bank of Lawrence and like most banks of the era, it had a sizable vault.

Nearly forty years ago the bank moved two blocks to Ninth and Massachusetts, leaving the building and vault empty. The building was occupied by various organizations until the Overland Pizza Company turned into the Italian restaurant now known as Teller's in 1992. The bank vault became the bathroom.

By OWEN MORRIS

Most restaurant employees would look at a person funny if he came in and asked to take photos of the restroom. Not at Christopher Elbow. The workers at the gourmet chocolatier just give a knowing nod. “Some people just go straight to the restroom to show their friends," Rachel Plant tells me. "When Chris has people he knows come in, he’ll take them their first.”

Chris would be the eponymous owner. The former pastry chef at The American Restaurant designed his restroom with the same artistic flair that adorns his chocolates. He event went so far as to steal borrow the sink.