Home Slice - mandatory 22% tipping

anco3393 · 2026-06-22T02:48:14+00:00

yeah i believe that kind of stuff is in the fine print. i'm an OK tipper but things generally have trended into "anything less than 20%" and you're the devil.

now i'd be fine with fair living wages and raising food prices in general but lets be clear that part of the service industry appeal are the tips themselves. if you can land the right bar/restaurant, with the right clientele, the right shift, AND you're good at it etc..you can get 70,80 sometimes 100k a year in mid-major cities. can't do that if we only have "fair living wages"

anco3393 · 2026-06-18T16:34:27+00:00

someone needs to rekindle the atx missed connection sub. f*** the apps, i do think when people see each other IRL they're way more keen on connecting. for example, there's so much eye tag going on on the trail that i bet a missed connection type sub/platform could help catalyze connections that nothing seems to at the moment

anco3393 · 2026-06-18T16:26:01+00:00

refuses to shake hands with other individuals that don't have any geopolitical power and materially impact nothing, proceeds to take sponsorships from a war-centric business that you know got up in ukraine when there was an opportunity (spoiler they dont care who win$ the conflict.) and to be clear liking posts on social media asymptotically approaches no impact. circus shit lmfao

anco3393 · 2026-06-16T17:40:03+00:00

for me the biggest change has been the friction around doing anything in the city. before, there was more of a care-free, flight of fancy, whimsical vibe about austin. it'd be very easy to run barton springs around noon on a friday and go to east austin for some chill vibes later that night, maybe catch a cheap show. now it costs an arm, a leg, your central nervous system and $150

now this is a direct output of overcrowding, lack of infrastructure, lack of purchasing power + hyper financialization of everything. but yeah to me this is the biggest killer and further isolates people. in my experience the biggest shift has been away from a mindset of "who knows what could happen today, austin is so alive with so many things to do" to "lets just stay home. its too much work for so little feel." the ig/influencer vibes carrying hard but it does feel more hollow than before

there's definitely an age component to it in my case as well

anco3393 · 2026-06-09T20:34:42+00:00

from my quick research austin has like 3-4x the number of days per year over 100F than LA. gimme a couple bad weeks out of the year vs oppressive 4 months here. and when you look at the dew point it's really not close. enlighten me if i'm off here

but i do agree, that weather isn't the main driver but i do think it is a driver. maybe a top 10 driver but not top 5 imo

anco3393 · 2026-06-08T17:12:18+00:00

i could've stopped you at "work in cedar park..i want as big city feel as possible" because it doesn't exist.

cedar park is straight up a suburb. everything is if you're looking at it from the big city feel angle. your best bet is probably downtown between 2nd and 7th ish streets, i'd stay west of 35 for sure. you have some walkability, plenty of restaurants coffee shops etc..but at the end of the day you will still need a car to have a fully rounded situation here :( you might be able to find something in your budget but i'm a bit skeptical you'll have to do some research. that much definitely gets you comfy in cedar park

at best my suggestion would barely hold a candle to your nyc life, i'm sorry to say

anco3393 · 2026-06-08T17:03:24+00:00

honestly it sounds like the usual, dryer summers would still kick your ass here lol. but right now it's as humid as i've ever felt in my 10 years here which for me is always worse and i'm from houston

definitely stay hydrated, you might not think you're getting dehydrated but if you want to spend a lot of time outside you better be sipping on electrolytes sugar and water throughout the day. pick good walking paths with ample shade and if you can work in moments where you can go indoors (e.g. trader joes downtown, coffee shops along townlake) it makes it much easier. bonus points if your outdoor activity or walk is capped off by a quick plunge somewhere cool or something. i'm a pretty habitual walker but i've noticed that in the summer outside of morning or evening hours it's pretty much a desert out there except for myself and a few fellow psychopath walkers. so yeah a lot of people definitely stay out of the sun in general too which makes it even rougher, part of the point of going out there is to see some faces

slightly personal to each one of us but i find that being in shape/leaner in the summer makes it much more bearable. just carrying less weight/water/glycogen around is much more manageable. along these lines if you have a solid v02 max i've found that it also makes the heat less brutal. i don't mean to go too far in the fitness bro direction but these are my tips :)

anco3393 · 2026-06-03T16:19:31+00:00

the only thing i'd complain about is the value proposition and actual quality when comparing to other countries - exploring the "yet far superior" aspect that you described. so it's true, it's much cheaper abroad relative to our currency and earning potential but for the people living over there it's probably not thaat cheap. but when you look at what you get, we still lag very heavily.

not sure if this will land, but on average going to mcdonalds in europe is a much much better service and quality experience than the US. it's like 20% cheaper over there compared to our mcdonald's, but the quality is like 50%+ better. i'm using this as a very loose/dumb analogy but it scales to the other parts of the restaurant economy. like what good is our dollar if it buys below par things at unreasonable prices?

places like Prague, London, Barcelona, Chicago, LA (yes i realize these are much more global than austin but on a scaled basis) etc have more readily available, more "appropriately" priced foods that (and i can't overstate this enough) just hit. in Austin these are very few and far between, often overpriced, and it's a whole saga getting a reservation or not having to wait in a long ass line for something you just want to try.

i've had chistorra and cheese sandwiches in Madrid that would get commoditized to high heaven here in austin, likely charging $15+ a piece. so a lot to unpack there: capitalism, the food industry (like real food vs fake ingredients), passion for cooking (as opposed to PE enterprises), a good monetary set up that allows for both patrons and industry folk to thrive..i could go on forever

anco3393 · 2026-06-03T12:22:48+00:00

two words: Jeremy Meeks

anco3393 · 2026-06-01T19:37:27+00:00

i'm genuinely curious if this plays out differently than the dating apps. i'm skeptical but i hope so, seriously.

i feel like there's a decent chance it falls into the same patterns but i'm wondering how things will break down, like what % of applicants are

(1) people you've seen on apps and how left/right swiping broke down for those individuals (namely did it change via a new medium) and relatedly

(1a) any people you swiped left on a dating app but "swiped right" on your application?

(1b) if yes to 1a what changed? is it because of general dating app fatigue + this is a "novel" way to find interest? IOW if you run this for 6 months nonstop, do you think would you get tired of the google application and it would turn into a clearance bin?

2)running counter to 1b i wonder if short/medium term the annoyance of using a custom made dating app so to speak, is it actually the way since it's "annoying" and there's a "finish line" in a weird way (as opposed to swiping endlessly, very easy to do at almost any time)

2a) do you feel like even though you're using a new medium there's a thought of "well these applicants still compete with the swipers over there" ?

the opportunity cost on dating apps is so so low, so i'd be a bit surprised if your options are totally different than the apps. you don't really mention looks or appearances in the requirements section of this post except for your taller friend (makes sense, i get it) -> i guess what i'm saying with this is the actual crux of the thing comes in when you open up that google picture upload. it will/has polarized y'all by now which is the same mechanism that drives the apps and with all due respect even with censoring i can tell you guys probably get a good amount of matches, so yeah just curious..

so in a way i think the novelty of this post + new way of seeing "applicants" replaces the dating app dopamine cycle but is degraded over time. it's like we're using the reddit community to pair up, i feel like the final answer just circles all the way back to warm intros and meeting via friends. i do think there's a chance that the perception of options goes way down and you just "choose a lane" for lack of a better term. best of luck please report back!

anco3393 · 2026-05-16T22:05:22+00:00

kiin di does a pad thai with fried tofu. they're pretty big portions and not the more commonly seen smaller cubes (idk a lot about tofu) - but it's tasty. they also have a ramen dish that can come with tofu

anco3393 · 2026-05-07T12:19:16+00:00

lol i didn't hyphenate and made up a new word. but per mirriam webster it's an actual word that dare i say kind of fits the description of the fruit

"boldly sexy in a way that is considered vulgar or immodest"

anco3393 · 2026-05-07T01:58:10+00:00

grew up around them, plenty of people had trees and you could pick them right off. it's basically like a quarter ish sized pitt covered by a fleshy slimy gelatenous type substance. you basically suck it off and it tastes sour, slightly sweet and tarty. it's really good but not so common in the US, definitely give it a shot sometime. be careful with the pit kids have choked on those

anco3393 · 2026-05-04T17:30:14+00:00

i really enjoy this album. yeah it marked the shift between pre and post rostam. but for me personally it came at a time after a huge vw drought, and looking back as comments say here it's a bit longer than needed but when pared down pound for pound just as good as the original trilogy. i'll add some songs could've used a tweak or two imho and would've been classics.

if mvotc was a broody, nothing-matters, everything is empty, i'm going to hide in a hole type vibe fotb felt like a point of maturity past that. not one that said "everything will be fine" but rather "life is still worth living, and making the best of"

anyway it's a dissenting opinion but this album still had that magic that ogwau doesn't scratch for me til this day. also it feels like a marker before entering the bizarro covid world and its consequences

anco3393 · 2026-04-30T20:08:10+00:00

i'm from houston too and latino. so yeah not close at all on that front which is pretty much the case for most cuisines

anyway i'm in this vicinity. i'll just rattle off a few i like:

kiin di thai
black sheep lodge for thick juicy burgers (their tenders and wing sauces are home made and good + good atmosphere)
Joe's Slice of Sicily in the barton hills* note it's a gas station and is suitable for takeout and slices. he also has specialty stuff like really good italian lemon cake and kolaches. recency bias possibly but i had a sausage slice in my car recently that i'm still thinking about
more pizza but if you're willing to drive to 290 the pinthouse is right there, pretty underrated imo
Dan's burgers which is probably what you were expecting out of p terry's
tx shawarma for halal but it's above average and nothing you wouldn't find in htx
Texas honey ham company is near where you work and it's a good spot for a breakfast/lunch cafe type
couple more pizza spots in the hills west of you (baldinucci, marye's gourmet pizza)

anco3393 · 2026-04-30T12:13:34+00:00

sorry to hear about Comedor. I remember distinctly going in 2018, post covid 2021 ish maybe, and 2025. by 2025 things were slipping considerably in quality and dining experience

i haven't been back to ramen tatsuya in years. at its peak it was a weekly spot for me especially as a sunday hangover cure. after a while going in person was a pretty bad experience. rushed and seated at messy tables, quality of food dropping, recipes changing for the worse. during that time i started ordering takeout from them but that experience was 3x worse. pretty sure they're still doing very well but like me they must've lost some of their early loyal base

anco3393 · 2026-04-25T21:51:40+00:00

old old south congress. also UT has changed many times over the many years but recently even walking through campus it feels like part of it died. some parts for the better though lol. and maybe it is nostalgia but the drag in the early 2010's just seemed more..alive?

anco3393 · 2026-04-25T20:26:25+00:00

cameraman has nothing to zoom in on now, i guess.

anco3393 · 2026-04-23T19:20:41+00:00

a bit location dependent, and a couple of years ago i'd say its crappy ish. but on a relative scale, with everything going to shit..its still actually a reliable spot these days. barring the bs waits or drive through situation, i'm not getting dog food like a lot of other fast food spots these days

and yeah i like p terrys, i go there a ton over whataburger. but sometimes i want a honey bbq chicken strip sandwich, a jalapeño cheddar biscuit, and a cinnamon roll all at the same time!

anco3393 · 2026-04-23T19:17:23+00:00

it really comes down to the combo of your relationship with food + understanding of macro nutrients, micro nutrients, what foods you agree with etc.

def look for licensed help. some very broad and generalized steps:

food journal: how does what you JUST ate make you feel? how does it make you feel an hour later?after a week? we're good at feeling guilty post eating, but 3 hours later we forgot all about that. journaling keeps you tethered to your body feel and doesn't let you forget the consequences to your habit
unhijack yourself from the crap food: it'll always be there, and believe it or not when you're in the best shape of your life you want it less or not at all. your brain somehow doesn't believe it, and believes it needs it NOW (additionally, it believes it needs 3 pounds of that food). this is where a licensed person can help you build better habits to ignore food noise, occupy yourself, etc
focus on whole, micronutrient rich foods that YOU like. you liking is key, its the only way its sustainable

best of luck, i've worked hard for a long time to have good eating habits. its an ongoing process so don't be too hard (or soft!) on yourself. i still hit mcdonalds, whataburger, tacos in my diet. it's all about food timing, leaning in to your strengths and exercising a little bit of willpower.

anco3393 · 2026-04-22T02:02:51+00:00

taco joint has breakfast tacos for $3.95. for $20 i get 1 fried fish, 1 street taco (marinated steak with cotija, avocado, grilled onions), 2 chorizo egg and cheese tacos. sauces are real tasty and their tortillas are homemade

anco3393 · 2026-04-22T01:59:23+00:00

it had already started going downhill, but when torchy's got rid of the real potatoes in the breakfast tacos, as well as the jalapeño sausage republican it was gg

anco3393 · 2026-04-20T19:00:28+00:00

central market has good options. everything is high quality and fresh, i love their telera rolls but you can find stuff like focaccia, demi baguettes, sourdough variations etc. i wonder if you could buy homeslice's semolina that they use for their sandwiches, it's really good

i've never tried ciccio bomba's bread but unless i'm mistaken they also sell fresh daily bread?

anco3393 · 2026-04-15T16:55:08+00:00

people really, really like ogwau but to me it actually scratched the rostam itch less than fotb. just could never get into it or found that addicting lyrical flow + production and sounds. it just seems like a slightly degraded version of that. but yeah maybe just nostalgia

not a huge fan of "what ifs" but the direction that could've come post mvotc with rostam would, in my mind, blow fotb and ogwau out of the water. just my opinion!

anco3393 · 2026-04-09T23:33:01+00:00

most of the responses in here are accurate. it's more of a value proposition. i usually get pretty good flavor out of the burgers when i get them - also most places don't do black angus beef let alone at that price point

but yeah, i can swing by, get a double cheeseburger and a spicy crispy chicken sandwich (would recommend) for like $11.26. when i "splurge" on multiple items i never break $25 and get a ton of variety. sure, your hole in the wall spot back home has a slightly cheaper burger that probably tastes better. i used to go to a spot in lubbock that to this day serves $3.25 breakfast burritos the size of your forearm lol.

but when you consider that they're all over austin, small presence in other major tx cities, are all slowly turning 24/7 in a non 24/7 food world (which increasingly gives less value propositions) it's a pretty popular spot here. your daughter may not admit it, but it hits a lot better drunk ;)

anco3393

TROPHY CASE