Reviews, Travel

Enjoy Los Angeles

I love Los Angeles, but I know there are a lot of people out there who have either had bad experiences, or just have zero desire to spend any precious vacation time in La La land.

There’s actually so much to do and so many ways to experience L.A. that, after a few trips, I think I’ve finally figured out how to experience the city in way that can even change the minds of nonbelievers:

Choose Your Location Wisely

Los Angeles covers a wide geographic area, so when planning a trip, try and stay in a location central to most of the things you want to check out. Otherwise, you’ll be spending A LOT of time in traffic.

For my last trip I stayed in this Airbnb guest house, located in Silver Lake. The location had a ton of perks including easy street parking (rare for L.A.), it was central to an infinite number of food options (I’ll touch on that later), and because it’s a residential neighborhood, the atmosphere is much calmer than staying in a hotel in Hollywood.

Silver Lake | getinmymouf.com

Such a calm street. I could totally live here.

If you’re a runner, staying near the Silver Lake Reservoir gives you an easy jogging path to start or end your day. As an added bonus, there’s a dog park nearby, so how can you run past dogs and not have great day? Oh, it is a reservoir, but don’t expect to see any water…

Keep Your Wheels Small

You’ll be doing a lot of street parking (you do know how to parallel park, right?), so make it easy on yourself and rent or borrow a car that’s on the smaller side. Thanks to DriveShop and Mitsubishi, I was hooked up with a 2016 Mitsubishi Lancer for the week (check out our car review here). The Lancer was nice because it was nimble enough to get around easily, yet wasn’t so small that I felt cramped.

2016 Mitsubishi Lancer SEL AWC | getinmymouf.com

2016 Mitsubishi Lancer 2.4 SEL AWC

Ridesharing is Your Friend

Although you’ll have to drive most of the time, it’s nice to occasionally not have to get behind the wheel. As much bad press as Uber and Lyft get, I still have yet to have any experience that is anywhere close to as awful as nearly every taxi ride I’ve had.

I also highly recommend using uberPOOL or Lyft Line to share your ride with a stranger. Sounds a little weird at first, but your ride costs will be cut in half AND you might meet some cool people. Thanks to sharing a ride one night, I got some sweet restaurant recommendations from two locals (shout out to Christine & Nick!). Unfortunately I didn’t make it out to their top pick, a new Nashville hot chicken joint in Chinatown, Howlin’ Rays, but I can guarantee I’ll be back soon…

Eat as Much as Possible

If you’re not eating well in L.A., then you’re doing something horribly wrong. I ate so well that it was almost painful (I didn’t wake up hungry once during the trip). There are hundreds of must-eat lists, celebrity chef restaurants, and local-filled dive joints to discover, but here are a few of my favorite bites:

The Fairfax breakfast sandwich from Eggslut (Downtown in Grand Central Market) – Almost custard-like scrambled eggs with chives, cheddar cheese, Sriracha mayo, caramelized onions, on the world’s softest brioche bun. And of course I added bacon. Easily the best egg sandwich I’ve ever eaten.

eggslut LA | getinmymouf.com

Good brews and great burgers from Stout (Hollywood) – Their signature Stout Burger did not disappoint and was topped with blue cheese, Emi Gruyere, rosemary bacon, caramelized onion, horseradish cream, and roasted tomatoes. And with over 30 beers on tap and 4 0z pours, you can sample nearly all of them in one night (thanks to Uber and Lyft). The staff is super friendly as well, and will happily share some celebrity sighting stories (everyone apparently has an Andy Dick encounter) and most of the waiters will even let you read their screenplay. Kidding, I actually didn’t meet any writers, but I did meet a stunt man, stand-up comic, improv performer, and a DJ.

Stout Burger - LA | getinmymouf.com

World class dim sum at Din Tai Fung (Glendale) – Din Tai Fung is a popular international restaurant with only six locations in the U.S. (all on the west coast). Man those soup dumplings…You think you’ve had dumplings, but you just don’t even know! Go with a group and order everything on the menu.

Din Tai Fung Glendale | getinmymouf.com

Cheap eats at Porto’s Bakery & Cafe (Glendale) – Porto’s is one of those places where–no matter how much you order–you always feel like your bill is way too low. This bakery has it ALL. Literally anything you could possibly want. My favorites were the fried potato balls filled with cheese or meat. And dessert…good luck picking one item.

Porto's Bakery Glendale | getinmymouf.com

Porto's Bakery Glendale | getinmymouf.com

Everything at Republique (Hancock Park) – With such huge range in flavors drawing inspiration from around the world, you will definitely find something that hits any craving you have. They cure their own meats. They bake their own pastries. They even have a daily house-made soda special. My Cuban sandwich was perfect and the Tangerine Vanilla Soda was like a liquid creamsicle on steroids. DO indulge in something sweet; my jam-filled bomboloni (basically a filled doughnut…also on steroids) was so good I cried a little.

Republique LA | getinmymouf.com

Indulging in ice cream at Salt & Straw (Larchmont) – Check out these insane flavors. Bet you’re craving ice cream now. I went with two of their staples:  Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache and Stumptown Coffee & Compartes Love Nuts (chocolate-dipped caramel-coated pecans). Ice cream nirvana was immediately achieved.

Salt & Straw LA | getinmymouf.com

A delicious marriage of French, Mexican, and California cuisine at Trois Familia (Silver Lake) – As my final meal in L.A., I enjoyed breakfast of a real champion: Crispy hash brown chilaquiles, sunny side up egg, cotija, salsa macho. I had tears streaming down my face as I took the last bites.

Trois Familia | getinmymouf.com

Take a Hike

With as much eating as you should be doing, you might want to hike off some calories.  Luckily, there are tons of trails to check out like Runyon Canyon, the Griffith Observatory hike, and of course the famed Hollywood Sign hike.

Echo Mountain LA | getinmymouf.com

Thanks to my L.A. hiking buddy (and cousin) Stephanie, I was directed to my new favorite spot:  Echo Mountain. It’s was a reasonable 30-minute drive from Silver Lake and wasn’t very crowded (although it was a weekday). The hike itself is a moderate five-mile round-trip adventure that rewards hikers with scenic views and the ruins of “White City,” a former resort at the top of the mountain. Bring water and sunblock, ’cause you’ll be in a lot of sun.

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Still not convinced? Fine. Guess I’ll just have to go back for more ‘research’ to try and make a better argument…

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Car Reviews

2016 Mitsubishi Lancer 2.4 SEL AWC

2016 Mitsubishi Lancer SEL AWC | getinmymouf.com

This post is made possible through a partnership with the awesome folks at DriveShop and Mitsubishi Motors, who provided us with a vehicle to test drive for a week. You can follow the conversation on social media with the hashtag #DriveMitsubishi.

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We needed a small, sporty car for a California trip starting in Los Angeles and ending in San Diego, so we were matched up with a 2016 Mitsubishi Lancer 2.4 SEL AWC. Having minimal experience with Mitsubishi, I was intrigued since the Lancer is one of the least expensive all-wheel-drive sedans money can buy.

Specs

MSRP (as tested):  $22,805
MPG Estimate: 23 city – 31 highway
Engine:  2.4L MIVEC SOHC 16-valve, 4 cylnders
Power:  168 hp @ 6000 rpm  | 167 ft-lbs. @ 4100 rpm
Transmission:   CVT
Color:  Diamond White Pearl

For more info, click here to view the 2016 Mitsubishi Lancer brochure.

2016 Mitsubishi Lancer SEL AWC | getinmymouf.com

An evening in University Heights – San Diego, CA

Comfort

I’m seat-spoiled in my daily driver, so I wasn’t expecting a compact sedan to have comfortable seats. Fortunately, the driver’s seat didn’t cause any back pains on the trip from Los Angeles to San Diego. The seats were firm and not necessarily something that I’d fall asleep in like a recliner, but they do the job surprisingly well.

2016 Mitsubishi Lancer SEL AWC | getinmymouf.com

Was disappointed that there was no telescoping steering wheel, but despite this, the wheel position wasn’t a distraction. Overall driving comfort was good – nothing ends up standing out as uber-comfortable, but after driving the car a lot you realize that everything does it’s job to a point where you don’t even think about it. Like the car isn’t trying to distract you in any way. It simply wants to do its job.

Oh, Lancer…you’re so humble.

2016 Mitsubishi Lancer SEL AWC | getinmymouf.com

Performance

Power was sufficient enough that I don’t recall ever feeling like we needed more umph to get around or to merge on to the highway. I’m also a big fan of car having good handling over a soft ride, so I enjoyed the car’s nimbleness around turns. I can safely say that if you need to make a quick U-turn in the middle of a neighborhood street, the Lancer can easily handle it.

We didn’t really need to use the all wheel drive for anything, but it was nice to have…just in case. Would love to take this car for a spin in some light snow to check out its capabilities.

Gas mileage for our trip was closer to the low end of the range at about 24 MPG, which might have been affected by the L.A. traffic for part of the trip.

2016 Mitsubishi Lancer SEL AWC | getinmymouf.com

2016 Mitsubishi Lancer SEL AWC | getinmymouf.com

2016 Mitsubishi Lancer SEL AWC | getinmymouf.com

Living like a local in Silver Lake – Los Angeles, CA

Who Should Buy This Car?

You should buy this car if you want a humble car with all wheel drive at a reasonable price. You might like this car if you enjoy spirited acceleration and fun handling, but don’t need something filled with a bunch of technological bells and whistles. It also doesn’t hurt that Mitsubishi offers a solid warranty with a 5 yr/60,000 mile basic coverage and 10 yr/100,000 mile powertrain coverage.

2016 Mitsubishi Lancer SEL AWC | getinmymouf.com

Wine time at Miramonte Winery – Temecula, CA

2016 Mitsubishi Lancer SEL AWC | getinmymouf.com

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Disclaimer:  As noted above (you did read the whole post, right?!) we were provided this vehicle courtesy of DriveShop and Mitsubishi. Other than being allowed to test drive this vehicle, we were not provided any monetary compensation for this post. As always, all opinions remain our own.

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