Jason Dady’s new downtown restaurant, Insignia, had a happy buzz going Friday night. No, the restaurant isn’t open yet, but the “soft” opening looked promising.

The restaurant is at the Fairmount Hotel, 401 S. Alamo St. It will open Monday at 11 a.m.

The location has been home to any number of restaurants over the years, some successful, some not. The interior is as inviting as we’ve ever seen it. The colors, ambient lighting, the roomy bar area lit up with sparkling glassware, wall tile and wood floors all work well.

The staff, some of whom transferred from other Dady restaurants, were enthusiastic in their role selling Insignia. Dady also owns The Lodge at Castle Hills, Bin 555 Restaurant & Wine Bar, Tre Trattoria and Two Bros. BBQ Market.

Insignia is billed as “modern American cuisine with global inspirations and Texas roots.” That covers a lot of territory, even if you left out Texas. But, the menu even gives San Antonio a nod, with a wood-fired pizza called The San Antonio, topped with barbacoa, cilantro, yellow onion and fresh avocado. Give us some salsa cruda on the side and it could be the city’s new official dish.

Fresh Maine lobster enchiladas, wood-oven-roasted salmon barbecue, bourbon-brined bone-in pork chops, and a signature “brisket burger” with tomato jam and American cheese on an English muffin all speak to Dady’s ability to pick confidently, and mix and match, from a world full of possibilities.

From the wood-fired pizza oven came a close-to-perfect Garden Pie, with sliced asparagus, lemon-spiked ricotta, cherry tomatoes and garlic oil. The Poblano Bisque was a soup after my heart (in a number of ways): cream, melted cheese and sour cream made up this rich soup that finished with the warm green burn of fresh poblano chile.

I didn’t sample the hand-drafted cocktails, as I was driving myself home. But here are just a couple of descriptions to whet your thirst: La Poire: Grey Goose La Poire with rosemary, pink peppercorns, vanilla and slice of pear.  And, A Seeded Kiss: Remy Martin Cognac with cinnamon, clove, anise, fennel seed, vanilla, absinthe and cream.

The restaurant will be open 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; and 11 a.m. – 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday.

Roberto Santibañez offered this recipe at his class Friday at the Culinary Institute of America’s conference, Latin Flavors, American Kitchens.

Manzano Chile Salsa

3 ounces manzano chile
3 small cloves garlic, peeled
1 pound fresh tomatillos, cut up into smaller pieces
1/2 teaspoon whole allspice, ground
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, ground
2 scallions (green onions), sliced
Salt, to taste

Make sure all ingredients except onions and spices are carefully washed. Blend everything together until it is a smooth mixture.  Then season with salt, to taste.

Makes 3-4 cups salsa
From Roberto Santibañez

This smooth, tomato and jalapeño sauce, from chef Roberto Santibañez, is spiced with a little bit of cinnamon.

Ranchera Sauce With Red Jalapeño Chiles

6 pounds whole, ripe tomatoes
2 small white onions, peeled and finely chopped
3 red jalapeños, boiled, stem removed
5 large cloves garlic, peeled
1 2-inch long stick cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)

Put tomatoes core side down on sheet pan and broil 8 inches from heat source until tomatoes are soft and skins are blackened and shriveled.

Once cooled, peel and core the tomatoes. Blend the tomatoes, onion, jalapeños and garlic until smooth. Tie cinnamon stick in a square of cheesecloth.

Heat canola oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the tomato purée and bring to a boil. Stir in salt, sugar, if using and cinnamon bundle. Adjust the heat so the sauce is simmering. Cook until slightly thickened, about 1 hour. If sauce thickens too much before that time, lower the heat and add water, a half-cup at a time, to prevent sauce from thickening too much.

Makes 2 quarts.

From Roberto Santibañez

A person familiar to Texas culinarians and New Yorkers alike took the stage at the Latin Flavors, American Kitchens conference at the Culinary Institute of America San Antonio Friday morning.

Roberto Santibañez, formerly chef at Fonda San Miguel in Austin, is currently owner of Fonda Restaurant in Brooklyn, NY.  A native of Mexico City and an award-winning chef as well as author, consultant and teacher, Santibañez is currently working on a new book, “Mastering The Art of Mexican Cooking,” to be published in 2010.

The title of the book, of course, echoes that of Julia Child’s famous tome, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”

“This is not out of pretentiousness, but out of a place of hope,” said Santibañez about the optimistic title. He wishes for it to open up the beauty and complexity of Mexican cooking in a way that Child’s book familiarized the world with French cooking.

He demonstrated making five sauces from a cuisine that offers hundreds, if not thousands of different ways to use chiles, spices, herbs, tomatoes, fruits and vegetables.

In addition to correct ingredient, Mexican sauces require specific treatments of the ingredients in order for them to taste uniquely Mexican, Santibañez says.

For example, as we sampled his Salsa Ranchera, a silky, red-orange tomato sauce with red jalapeño chiles, he pointed out that in this sauce, oven-roasted tomatoes are peeled and cored, then blended with fried onions, raw jalapeños and garlic – then cooked.

The method, he says, is “what makes the sauce taste truly Mexican.”

In his Cooked Tomatillo Salsa, he pointed out that the amount of time in the blender was of utmost importance to the success of this sauce.

“You want to see some of the specks of tomatillo and the cilantro in the sauce. If you blend it too long, the tomatillo seeds will grind up into a paste and turn the sauce paler and pastier,” he says.

The Veracruz Style Peanut Mole Rojo calls for an assortment of fruits, nuts, chiles, vegetables and spices. Each ingredient is treated differently. They are fried for varying amounts of times; they are toasted or soaked. The tortillas are actually singed.

The sauce, when it is all together, needs to be cooked for the amount of time called for — or longer. And, he says, when using a mole, for example, as an enchilada sauce, it’s important to use plenty of it. Six ounces of sauce, he says, is about right for an enchilada.

“We do use a lot of sauce,” Santibañez says. “That is part of our pride.”

Here are more tips from Santibañez:

• Roast tomatoes in a hot oven without oiling them, leaving the peel on. Absolutely no oil, and no seasoning.
• Chile, garlic, onion and seeds are the main actors in a good mole, with the spices in the background. You don’t want a mole that tastes like clove.
• In Mexican cooking, (the amount) of our ingredients can vary enormously for one recipe. It might call for 20 jalapeños, or 60 jalapeños. That is because of the variation in spiciness of the chiles.
• “I’d like to see more manzano chiles in this country. We need to ask for them. They are very spicy, and has a wonderful flowery, perfume-y flavor.”
• “If you use avocado leaves in Mexican cooking, you can’t just use any avocado leaves. The tree must be the criolo avocado that grows in Mexico. The flavor it adds to cooking is light, somewhat anise-y.”

Click below for recipes from Santibañez:

Ranchera Sauce with Red Jalapeño Chiles

Manzano Chile Salsa