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
AUSTINWAY.com 115 Part of her business sav v y is moving out of her comfort zone in order to appeal to other people's, such as opening her sports bar, Bar 96, even though it's impossible to imagine her watching a football game or a ball cap reining in her wild red curls. "You have to look at what people are asking for, and everybody was asking for a sports bar," she explains. After ward, Dunlap focused her attention on Mettle, a sleek East Austin bistro with an unex- pected menu (fried chicken, fish and chips, and beef tongue tacos) and an extensive list of specialty cocktails she'll never order. She's loudly pro Tito's and Topo Chico, pro red wine, and anti (other people's) mixologists. Her final Rainey Street endeavor will be the creation of a new Lustre Pearl across the street from where the original one used to stand after moving to a new location on East Cesar Chavez to make room for a mixed-use development project. The original Lustre Pearl building (which she now refers to as Lustre Pearl East, although it still might experience a name change) will serve food. Dunlap is also working on another East Side eatery, this one Italian and currently dubbed Nuns and Lovers. She plans to have all three open by South by Southwest, at which point she'll turn her attention to Dunlap ATX, the parent company she runs with her husband, Chris Parker. On the upper half of her right arm, the names of the two men in her life— Dunlap's 11-year-old son, Asher Skye, and Parker—are inked in cursive that's legible from six feet away. In between them is a sizable butterf ly in need of detail, as if it's on its way to the imago stage, just not quite there yet. The tat- too artist "is annoyed I still haven't gone back to get the tattoo finished," says Dunlap. "I was there for four hours. Who can sit still for that long?"