Austin Way Magazine - GreenGale Publishing - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/367813
photography by ben sklar Steph Opitz and Erin Hallagan have a lot in com- mon: Each in their early 30s, they moved to Austin in the past few years, and they play crucial roles in two of the city's standout festivals, which overlap for one manic weekend downtown. Opitz is the literary director of the Texas Book Festival (October 25-26), and Hallagan is the creative director of the Austin Film Festival (October 23-30). The two women recently got together for dinner at Hudson's on the Bend, which turns 30 this year. Over three decades, Chef Jeff Blank has served sophisticated and exotic game dishes at the restaurant, about 25 miles from downtown, near Lake Travis. Over a decadent, three-course meal at Hudson's, the two festival pros discussed the perils and perks of their respective dream jobs as well as Austin's dining scene. Steph Opitz: Last year after my first Texas Book Festival, you said, "Don't worry, every year it gets easier." But you just got a promotion from confer- ence director to creative director so do you still think that's true? Erin Hallagan: I feel like I'm in my first year again, now that we've realigned our team due to the festival's growth. We've combined the conference department [focusing on writing for film, televi- sion, and new media] with our film programming to produce an even stronger platform for great storytelling. EH: Has your job changed very much from the first year? SO: Yeah… slightly, in a more stressful way. There are so many things that I can and want to improve upon from last year. We're partnering with the Texas Teen Book Fest [formally the Austin Teen Book Fest]; we rebranded it and moved it to the weekend before the TBF to have bookended weekends. [Waiter brings amuse bouche of goat cheese brioche with Jack Daniels–infused jam.] EH: Seriously cheese and liquor: It's all I need. SO: The most stressful thing about our jobs is being a tastemaker. We roll the dice about how the audi- ence will feel about a book that doesn't even see the light of day for months. Last year we had James McBride as one of our featured authors, and a month later he won the National Book Award. EH: There's a certain amount of risk taking; last year, clockwise from above: Steph Opitz and Erin Hallagan dining at Hudson's on the Bend; the restaurant's picturesque patio; a roasted corn and ricotta goat cheese tower topped with a sesame- and almond-crusted crab cake in a guajillo sauce. INSIGHT: WHERE: Hudson's on the Bend: 3509 Ranch Road 620 N. 512-266-1369; hudsonsonthebend.com WHEN: Open Sunday – Monday 6 to 10 PM; Tuesday – Thursday 5:30 to 10 PM; and Friday – Saturday 6 to 9 PM Directors' Cut BEFORE THEIR BOOK AND FILM FESTIVALS TAKE OVER TOWN AT THE SAME TIME, RELATIVE AUSTIN NEWBIES STEPH OPITZ AND ERIN HALLAGAN COMPARE NOTES AT ONE OF THE AREA'S DINING MAINSTAYS, HUDSON'S ON THE BEND. 100 AUSTINWAY.COM TASTE On the Town