One of the coolest things to do in recent years was head over to LAX on a quiet afternoon, park in the short term lot, and walk a few feet to a waiting elevator, heading up to the Encounter restaurant.
Once there, one did not find especially good (or well-priced food) but one did find amazing views of planes landing and taking off, very cool Jetsons meets James Bond decor, and a truly relaxing place to hang out. It came in particularly handy if one were marooned at LAX waiting for a flight.
Sadly, the Encounter restaurant has now closed. This puts the restaurant back to its usual condition of not being open. Due to construction, earthquake damage, and simply not having any tenants, the restaurant has been closed or nonexistent for a hefty portion of the building's existence.
Apparently, the issue these days is that nobody wants to leave the terminal once they get through security; otherwise, they'd have to go through security again. Thus, not enough customers. I would of course add in that a) nobody knows about it, b) the food is weak, and c) the prices are too high.
With the owners of Umami Burger buying the property, I would imagine they will do something with it. Until then, we can enjoy some photos from the last time I was there a year or so ago.
