Ep. 162: Salsa with Heart, and a Chef's Guide to Spring Veggies

So, Maris, you know, like, when you go to Europe and you're, like, not supposed to actually tip, or if it is, it's just, like, a small amount, like, at any restaurant, bar-

Yeah

... actually-

Yeah, but I have heard that sometimes they expect the Americans to tip-

Have you?

... because it's our culture.

I mean, I've gotten the...

It's, I, in Italy once, I went to tip and they were actually didn't want it.

Okay.

They're like, "No." Like-

Not, like, expect, but like-

Yeah

... are ready for it.

They're like, "These idiots."

Yeah.

[laughs]

[laughs] "Boy, we did not read up on their culture."

They have this really crazy thing in the US where they tip you for working for, for-

Because we don't pay a living wage.

Right, yeah.

It's so archaic.

Anyway, uh, with the World Cup coming into town-

Uh-huh

... have you seen the sort of, um, rumblings of whether restaurants should charge an autograph, being that foreigners often don't tip in they, um, they don't know the custom here.

And I mean, I can imagine-

Hmm

...

if you're coming here and you see, let's say you have a dinner for $500-

Mm-hmm

... right? Groupia, 500 bucks, and all of a sudden it says on the bottom of the check that you should be, uh, tipping-

Adding more

... uh, another $100 in-

Uh-huh

...

in gratuity.

Like, that's a shock, right?

Yeah.

That's interesting.

I did have a conversation with a restaurateur who post-COVID started doing auto-tipping, and he did 18%.

Yes.

And we asked him how that was going, and he said it was great.

He said the regulars tip extra 'cause they're only doing 18-

Yes

...

but it brings in the tips from the people who weren't leaving any.

Hmm, sure.

And if they don't come back, they don't come back.

Right.

Yeah.

It's, it's definitely a, an interesting conversation, and I, I, I have a feeling more restaurants than not will be implementing it because, you know, servers are already wondering.

Like, these-

Yeah

... conversations are happening in real time.

I do not know what my restaurant group is going to do.

I've actually haven't even talked about it or heard anything about it.

We haven't discussed it in any of our meetings.

Um, but it's an interesting kind of dilemma for Americans, uh, because, I mean, I guess Canada also, they, they do tipping, but, um-

Yeah.

I-

... yeah

Look, I don't know if I've really said this out loud.

I, I'm scared for, like, po- Pope syndrome.

Yeah, me too.

Like, I'm scared that we are preparing for an onslaught-

Yes

... and it doesn't feel yet like it's coming.

Hopefully it'll come.

Yes.

Hopefully people will be here and they will visit and they will spend money, and they won't, you know, they will choose to stay within the city-

Yeah

... and support small businesses.

Um, but I'm not feeling it yet.

I know.

I think everybody's a little bit unsure.

Yeah.

Unsure for sure.

Did you see the story about the Airbnbs?

I did not.

Uh, the Inquirer said that, like, there's thousands of Airbnbs available.

Available?

Yes, because they told everyone to, like, triple their prices.

Oh.

That would be the main price of it.

Um, and they're just not being booked yet.

I've actually thought about doing this one, but, 'cause I'll be in Spain for the first two weeks of, or week and a half of the World Cup.

Could you Airbnb your house?

I don't know.

I, I-

I'd have...

You'd have to do a lot of work.

Yeah.

And for a first-timer, I'm just like, "I don't know if I wanna do that."

Right.

I, like, all those people that have shore houses that they are in, but they also rent them out-

Yeah

... like, I, power to you to just have that closet you can lock everything in.

Yeah.

But, like-

Exactly

...

I don't know.

That's my couch.

[laughs]

And like, you're gonna sleep on my couch.

Yeah.

And like, I understand you get your own sheets and you can switch out the plates.

And, yeah, there's, there's something weird about it.

I'm too much of a tchotchke person.

Like, I have too many personal-

Too many little things

... affects around.

Yeah, you'd have to clear all that out.

Ugh, it's so much work.

Yeah.

But somebody for the, um, we were, had somebody on the air who said they rented out their house for $45,000 for the PGA Championship.

Oh, wow.

He was like, "It was a lot of work, but man, was it worth it."

For one weekend.

For one week.

'Cause, um-

Yeah

... a lot of the bigger-

Oh, corporations-

... sponsors

... sponsors coming in

... will rent out houses and throw parties in them, or, like, host people.

Sure.

Sure.

That's smart.

Right? Can you imagine getting 45 grand for a week?

Yeah.

Geez.

Not my house, but-

[laughs] There's still time, Eli.

All right, we wanna know more about this autograph thing.

We're gonna keep an eye on it, and we will report back.

In the meantime, let's get started.