PRICE:
Frommer's Recommended

There has always been a restaurant in the spacey Theme Building (ca. 1961) perched in LAX's midst, but these days it draws as many Angelenos as fly-by travelers (including John Travolta, who had his star-studded birthday party here). The reason? A full makeover transforming the staid Continental dining room (whose best feature was a panoramic view over the runways) into a 1960s Star Trek set gone Technicolor. Outer-space lounge music dominates the entire place, and waitresses endure silver satin minidress uniforms complete with go-go boots. The menu features art-food, that L.A. specialty that focuses more on creating sculptural arrangements on the plate than culinary prowess. That said, the food is of the satisfy-all-tastes variety: roast chicken, grilled salmon, Angus steak, and so on. If you're stopping at LAX with kids in tow, not to worry -- Encounter's party atmosphere ensures they'll enjoy themselves without disrupting the ambience a bit. A travel advisory: At least come up and have a blue cocktail at the lava lamp-festooned bar, because quirky Encounter is worth an encounter.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Los Angeles 2008, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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