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It's the most recogizable landmark at LAX and one of the most famous edifices in Los Angeles. The 70-foot high futuristic building with its unique parabolic arches and multiple lighting changes has been a fixture since 1961. 
For many years, the structure housed a coffee shop that would provide a quick meal and/or cup of Joe for travelers.  In 1997 designer Eddie Sotto and Walt Disney Imagineering revamped the interior, converting it into a Jetson-esque restaurant and bar, complete with retro-style multi-colored patterns on the carpeting, blue and red lava lights, opalescent surfaces and moon-cratered walls. You might hear sci-fi or even James Bond music in the space age elevator that totes you up to the top of the building.
It's interesting to people-watch at the Encounter.  Many of the customers are tourists. There seems to be a separate life at the crater-shaped, metallic coctail bar. There are bar guns that emit laser lights and sound effects when bartenders pour a drink. The barstools seem to hang in mid-air.  The overall scene is like a 1960s look at an alternate universe in the distant future. 

Open Daily from 11 AM to 9 PM.     |   209 World Way
Electric Lotus

Cuisine of India in Los Felix
The breathtaking interior decor will surprise you as you enter this authentic Indian restaurant.  The restaurant atmosphere is romantic with colorful decor, techno-laced sitar music and silky swaths of ceiling-hung fabric provide plenty of jump-start for lapses in conversation.  100% organic ingredients may explain the higher-than-average pricing on the menu. Sizzling Indian dishes and sexy/hip decor scale the style index. 
Fred 62

1850 N Vermont Ave 
Los Angeles, CA 90027-4215 
Phone: (323) 667-0062
Busy and eclectic late night diner in the Los Felix/Silverlake area, hated and loved by many.
JERRY'S FAMOUS DELI

Re-Opened

With a unique mix of good food, nostalgic atmosphere and bad service,
 Jerry's Famous Deli stands out in the American restaurant landscape.
After opening its flagship location in 1978, in Studio City, Jerry's
immediately began to establish a reputation as the quintessential
delicatessen. From the menu (featuring over 600 traditional deli and
dining favorites) to the expensive prices, to the delivery and catering
services, people who love food have found that there is a lot to love
about Jerry's.
In May of 2002, Jerry's Deli suffered a major fire, and was closed for 
over a year.  It was  re-opened on September 16th of 2003 with a new look..
12655 Ventura Blvd.
Studio City, CA (818) 980-4245.

Auntie Em's makes the best Pot Pies I've ever had. They're also famous for their Red Velvet Cake, a lightly chololate, brilliantly red colored cake that was popularized in the 1920's, but seldom seen today.
Koraku
Little Tokyo
Cheap late night Japanese food in Downtown LA
314 E. 2nd Street
Open til 3:00 am

Ramen Bowls  Sake  Asahi  Katsu  Curry   Gyoza   Teriyaki 
La Cabanita

3447 North Verdugo Road 
Glendale, Ca 91208
818-957-2711 
Authentic Mexico City cooking in Montrose.  Entomatadas, enchiladas de mole,  enchiladas suizas, freshly made corn tortillas stuffed with sweetly spiced beef picadillo with almonds and raisins. They’re terrific. Terrific too is the musky, complex green mole, alive with a dozen unfamiliar pounded barks and seeds.  Delicious are the long-cooked pork chops smothered  in a smoky pasilla gravy, roasted poblano chiles stuffed with a sweet, intricately spiced chicken. 
Beer & Wine 
Dinner $12 - $15
 TRAXX Restaurant

Even with a modern  downtown renaissance blossoming in the midst of Los Angeles, the landmark Union Station's ambience recalls the glamour and wonder of train travel's golden era.  The Union Station building, located on the Eastern Edge of Downtown Los Angeles, fuses the Spanish colonial, Art Deco and streamline Modern Architecture that represent California's heritage. 

Since 1997, Traxx Restaurant and Cocktail Bar has brought fine dining back to this historic jewel.  This restaurant on the concourse of Union Station, wittily incorporates some of the station's art deco details. And the Californian-French food is excellent, with such creations as endive with gorgonzola and walnuts, lamb sandwiches and pumpkin risotto with shrimp. If it weren't for the faint sound of departure and arrival announcements in the background, diners wouldn't know they were in one of the city's busiest transportation hubs. 

  800 N. Alameda St. 
Lunch:  Monday - Friday, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Dinner:  Monday - Saturday, 5:30-9 p.m.
Closed Sunday
(213) 625-1999.

When Angelo and Vinci's began it was next to a Fox Movie theater. The Fox Theater was once a vaudeville house and this was the backstage. You could see the stage rigging and almost smell the greasepaint.  The ceilings were impossibly high as you looked at the catwalks, stage lightning  and backdrops above.
Today, there is more decorations. Strings of colored lights, posters and statuary give the feeling of an Italian village during the holiday season (complete with pigeons in the rafters.) 
The owner of the restaurant for many years is Steven Peck, a hollywood actor and dancer of much reknown.  Peck definitely knows Sicilian food.  The best pizzas, the pasta mezzaluna are stuffed with spinach, herbs and cheese.  The Ciopinno (seafood soup with clams, mussels, shrimp, calamari, and scallops) is among the best.  On the down side is the service. While Peck is terrific, his waitstaff varies from unbelievably good to unbelievably bad.
If you do go, check out the basement which houses interesting theatre memorabilia.

550 N Harbor Blvd in Fullerton
(714)879-4022.
Hours: Sunday - Thursday, 11:00 am to 10:00 pm 
Friday & Saturday, 11:00am to Midnight. 
The Magic Castle
Home of the Academy of Magical Arts

The Magic Castle is a lavishly appointed restaurant and a major entertainment venue for magical acts that serves a critically acclaimed menu in an elegant manner.
 It is known to magicians all over the world as the premier magic venue and the virtual center of the magician's universe.
   Guests can enjoy a full and exciting evening of elegant dining and entertainment where they can explore and discover its treasures at their leisure.
 Located in the hills above Hollywood, the castle is an authentic Victorian mansion, built in1908. For more than 30 years the Magic Castle has been the home of the Academy of Magical Arts Inc., a private club for magicians and lovers of magic. Open seven days a week.
Formosa Cafe

Dimly-lit west Hollywood classic with red leather booths and a long bar. They shot the Lana Turner LA Confidential scene in here and the exciting scent of Fifties film noir is overpowering. Autographed shots of the stars line the walls. This Rococo hangout started out as a Mandarin eatery but in recent years it has expanded the menu to include some Thai, Japanese and Korean dishes. The popular venue has been around since 1932.

7156 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood
Hours: 11.30am - 2am
Telephone: (00 1 323) 850 9050
YAMASHIRO
Hollywood

For 88 years Yamashiro has watched over the history of Hollywood.
In the late 1920’s Yamashiro served as headquarters for the ultra-exclusive “400 Club”. Created for the elite of Hollywood’s motion picture industry during its Golden Age, Yamashiro gave Hollywood its first celebrity hangout. 
 The restaurant was designed to be an exact replica of a palace located in the mountains near Kyoto.  It features a westside Sunset Room, main dining room, terraces, bar lounge and Skyview banquet room overlooking downtown L.A. and  Hollywood. The tranquil Inner Courtyard is also popular for dining, banquets, and weddings and features Japanese gardens and beauty pools with colorful Koi fish. The 600-year-old Pagoda on the hilltop above the restaurant was brought over from Japan is the oldest structure in California.
 A Seeing Stars: Hollywood Landmarks
 Tail O' the Pup

At first glance, you might not think twice about this bit of Los Angeles  kitsch. But locals adored this closet-size wiener dispensary so much that when it was threatened by the developer's bulldozer, they spoke out en masse to save it.
Built in 1945, it is a hot dog stand shaped like a giant hot dog. Over the years, this humble counter has served the public over five million hot dogs and chili dogs. 
 Hot dogs sell for around $2. 
Open daily: 6 AM - 6 PM ( Sundays open at 8 AM)
329 N. San Vicente Blvd.,
Los Angeles, CA. 
Cafe Verde
961 E. Green St.
Pasadena, CA 91106
626-356-9811
A wonderful little place to have breakfast, lunch and dinner (Wed-Fri, reservations recommended) no corkage fee

     A night of comedy and magic over a renaissance feast. Performed by Joseph and Barbara Derry and Company Friday and Saturday nights in the City of Orange, California. 
New York
Russian Tea Room

The Russian Tea Room recently reopened in glitzy decadence. Although reviews are mixed, many still consider this a "must-see".
It originally opened in 1926 by former members of the Russian Imperial Ballet who'd emigrated to the U.S. 
The Russian Tea Room shut down in July and filed for bankruptcy after a $21 million renovation done three years ago by late owner Warner LeRoy failed to draw enough customers. 
    150 W 57th Street
New York City
Sardi's 
New York City

In the heart of New York's Theater District, Sardi's has been the toast of Broadway for 82 years. 
In 1927, when Vincent Sardi opened his restaurant, he commissioned artist Alex Gard to cover his walls with caricatures, in imitation of a popular Parisian eatery.  This launched a relationship that resulted in 720 portraits over the next twenty years.
The Sardi's subjects were invariably connected to the theater or the arts. Harsh distortions often made the faces ugly, but the celebrity subjects rarely complained.  Celebrity-seeking tourists dined surrounded by the colorful glamour of the entertainment district.  Sardi's came to epitomize the Broadway ethos.  Film and stage designers replicated the caricature walls for many a theater scene. 
234 West 44th Street , NYC