Jason Dady is taking over the restaurant space at the Fairmount Hotel, 401 S. Alamo St., according to an announcement he made on Twitter. The restaurant will be called Insignia and will open in as little as six weeks.

“The menu will focus on modern American cuisine,” Dady said. “I wanted a menu that reflects both our French/Italian cooking style with Texas and southern inspirations. The menu will change often, depending on seasonality. The wine list will be an eclectic list consisting from wines from six regions from across the globe: Texas, Oregon, Sonoma County, Spain/Portugal, Chile/Argentina and Southern France.”

Insignia is the latest restaurant in a list that dates back to the 1980s when Bruce Auden operated Polo’s there. Most recently, it had been Luca Ristorante.

Dady’s other restaurants include the Lodge Restaurant of Castle Hills, Bin 555, Tre Trattoria and Two Bros. BBQ Market.

“We are extremely excited about heading downtown and can’t wait to get the ball rolling!” he said.

The discounted tickets for events at this year’s 10th anniversary New World Wine & Food Festival are going, going … almost gone.

Tuesday is the final day to purchase tickets for a wide range of events and get a 15-percent discount.  The festival is from Nov. 10-15.

For more information, check out the website, www.nwwff.org.  Note: the 15-percent discount does not apply to Chefs and Cellars, winemaker dinners or the Black Tie event.

Mike Behrend’s Green Vegetarian Cuisine has vegan options plain and simple. Or, a little bit fancier. This dish is a sweet-hot treat enhanced by the fresh flavors of yeasty focaccia, creamy tofu and crunchy walnuts. Green is at 1017 N. Flores St.

Garlic Glazed Tofu on Walnut Focaccia

Focaccia:
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
4 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
¼ cup oil
1 ½ cups bread or all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour

Glazed Tofu:
2 (12-ounce) packages of extra-firm tofu
½ onion, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 bell pepper, finely diced
1 serrano, finely diced
10 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup water
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon corn starch
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Alfalfa sprouts
1 avocado, sliced

To make focaccia: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine the water, yeast, sugar, salt, herbs, nuts, oil and flours in large bowl and knead for 3 minutes. Add additional flour if needed. Let dough rest for 5 minutes, then roll out to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. Place on well-oiled sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes. Take bread out. After it cools, cut it into 4 rectangular pieces, then slice in half.

For the tofu: Drain the tofu and cut in half to make 4 (½-inch thick) sheets of tofu.  Place on a well-oiled pan and bake for 20 minutes at 325 degrees. For the sauce: Sauté onion, carrot, bell pepper and serrano with the garlic in the sesame oil until slightly browned. In a small bowl combine the water, soy sauce, brown sugar and cornstarch to form a slurry. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the slurry to the sautéed vegetables.  When the sauce thickens, add the baked tofu and reduce to a simmer. Thoroughly coat the tofu with the glaze and simmer for two minutes.

Place 1 slice of tofu with a little glaze on top of the foccaccia and garnish with sprouts and sliced avocado.

Makes 4 servings.

From Mike Behrend at Green Vegetarian Cuisine

The regular customers at Fishland Fish Market are so excited about the food that one walked up to me  before I placed my order to tell me how wonderful everything was. And to my pleasant surprise, it was.

One reason is that the Asian women who have run the small eatery on Walzem Road for 18 months now go far beyond any expectation you may have based on the eatery’s modest looks. Their fish list, for example, includes your choice of red snapper, fillet of sole, cod, drum, tilapia and whiting in addition to the expected catfish.

What they do with that seafood in terms of flavor and texture also reaches beyond what’s expected. On my first visit, I started with an appetizer portion of fried calamari. Like the rest of the seafood, it was coated in cornmeal before frying. (That’s right, nothing’s blackened, sautéed or poached. So forget all that nonsense.) Each ring was crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, and just right for a dab or two of fiery hot sauce. (You’ll know which squeeze bottle is the hot sauce if you pay attention: Though the ketchup and hot sauce both appear in red squeeze bottles, the hot sauce is the one with the rubber band around it.)

I opted for the cool tartar sauce on the four piping hot, medium-sized red snapper fillets that I had ordered ($6.99 with fries, salad and roll at lunch). The medium-bodied fish stayed whole, thanks to the crust, offering fine fish flavor in every bite.

The fries that day were perfection. Thin, narrow strips with plenty of crunch, heat and flavor, they would have been the envy of the Golden Arches. On the second visit, the fries were a step below the lofty standard that had been set, but they were still good enough to vanish quickly. Or maybe the fries were upstaged by the excellent hush puppies, small and crackly on the outside, moist and full of rich corn flavor inside.

For the second visit, I brought along friends, so we could all try a variety of the remaining dishes, from the shrimp to the oysters.

The big hit was the cod lunch special, with the thick, firm-fleshed fish offering a mouthful of flavor. The sole was a little more delicate and moist, but still delicious.

If you want jumbo shrimp, make sure you specify that when you’re ordering. Otherwise, you could get medium shrimp, which are very good; they boast an unbeatable sweetness, but they just aren’t as substantial when you bite into them as their larger cousins.

I enjoyed the oysters because the batter on the outside boasted a great crunch while the briny bivalves themselves were smooth, a little slippery, as is usual, and filled with tales of the sea.

The green salad that comes with the meal is a fresh mix of romaine and vegetables (no iceberg). If you don’t care for the Italian dressing that comes with it, just mix a squeeze of tartar and ketchup together for a quick version of thousand island. I used it on both lettuce and a few fries.

Not everything rated as highly. The coleslaw had an odd, almost sweet-sour taste that was slightly off balance and left a tinny finish. And the rolls were dull, but they were almost an afterthought, rather than an integral part of the meal.

Don’t pass by the carrot cake filled with nuts, raisins and spices. It was moist, dense and most definitely worth repeating.

The women who run Fishland are friendly and extremely conscientious about the cleanliness of their place, which is attested to by the certificate of a perfect inspection that has been taped to the door. They also sell fish by the pound, if you want to take it home and prepare it yourself. I guess that might appeal to those who don’t want their fish fried, but I can’t understand that, at least not after two visits.

By the way, there aren’t a lot of tables at Fishland, and there is a brisk takeout business. Because the staff is only two and everything is prepared to order, you may want to call in advance.

Fishland Fish Market
4941 Walzem Road
(210) 655-3232
Lunch and dinner Monday-Saturday
$-$$