Montrose Publishing Maven Sets Her Sights On River Oaks Real Estate

My Table Magazine has been a fixture in the Houston food and media scene for the last 21 years, and it’s been edited and published right here in Montrose by Teresa Byrne-Dodge for the last eleven. Since moving to the neighborhood in 2004, she has produced the bi-monthly magazine from a house on Harold Street.

Just as the neighborhood has experienced a bit of a renaissance, so has Byrne-Dodge, who still resides on Harold Street, but in a home two blocks away from the one she lived and worked out of through last year.

“My husband [Cameron Ansari] and I both owned a home, so we sold mine and consolidated everything into his house two blocks away,” says Byrne-Dodge. “We’ve been working on it since last summer. It’s a big mess.”

It may be a mess now, but when the major renovations are done to update the 1926-built home, it will be a beautiful space for the couple. Restoration of the former up-and-down duplex has been an all-consuming process, but they forged ahead to remake it from the bottom up. They’ve even lifted the roof an extra four feet, expanding the attic into a fully functioning third floor office for the magazine.

Renovating a historic home left its mark on the publishing maven, who surprised even herself with a recent career shift. In January she joined her husband as a realtor at Greenwood King Properties, selling houses in the River Oaks neighborhood.

“I never dreamed I’d be selling real estate,” says Byrne-Dodge. “But it fills the other side of me. It all comes together.”

At this intersection of her two decades in publishing and her fledgling career in real estate is RiverOaksHouston.com. This online publication, in partnership with her husband, combines promotional efforts for their real estate business with a blog featuring information on upcoming open houses, ideas for home design and more. The site falls under her publishing company, Lazywood Press, which also produces the Food Lover’s Guide To Houston and the River Oaks Market Report, a bi-annual economics piece researched and written by Ansari.

But don’t think Byrne-Dodge has gotten out of the food media business. Her My Table Magazine crew is taking great care of the publication, with Byrne-Dodge overseeing every layout and story, and approving each issue.

“My Table comes out six times a year, and now that I have two full-time people, it doesn’t take as much from me,” she says. “This is a way for me to go and do something new. I worked alone for so many years, so it’s great to see this happening. Both [My Table employees] are very active in the River Oaks Houston project as well. We really want RiverOaksHouston.com to become a lifestyle go-to for design, for gardening, for what’s going on in the neighborhood.”

Producing RiverOaksHouston.com content, marketing materials and the River Oaks Market Report keeps Byrne-Dodge on top of her real estate game, but there is one perk she’s truly enjoying since starting the new career.

“I love looking at the homes,” says Byrne-Dodge. “On Tuesdays, we [Greenwood King] have a sales meeting and then do an office tour. It’s the hardest thing for me, because I want to look in every bedroom, every bathroom and soak up the kitchen.”