Croce's Bar and Restaurant Apartments For Rent - Gaslamp, San Diego, California

Posted by Alecia Ormsby on November 06, 2008 13:46

Live Jazz music, with talented musicians, every night of the week and on Sundays at brunch, can only be found at Croce's Jazz Bar in the downtown Gas Lamp District of San Diego.

What an awesome thing Ingrid Croce did, before the Gas Lamp District was anything but hip, to open up a live music venue for local musicians where patrons could enjoy a great meal at the same time.

Ingrid is the wife of the late Jim Croce, the American musician who wrote and sang "Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown" and "Time in a Bottle" and had four gold albums before he died in a plane crash over Louisiana in 1973.

The bar is decorated with memorabilia to Jim throughout the two level space. An upstairs balcony overlooks the main dining area and the bar with the adjacent outdoor patio. International, national and local jazz musicians are found at Croce's, as well as blues and soul acts that usually begin around 8 or 9 pm. The bar area is the best seat in the house, yet the entire restaurant benefits from the melodious sound of music.

Croce's employs a Sommelier (wine steward) who also serves as the general manager, and he keeps up with a wide range of wines and sparkling wines with over 50 different wines offered by the glass, and three times that amount in bottles.

While Croce's is a great place for apartment-ites to go see great live music and enjoy a good bottle of wine, it is also an awesome restaurant as well. To start the meal is a warm spinach salad with gorgonzola, almonds, grapes, and surprisingly - figs. Coated in a warm vanilla bean dressing, it has been a classic menu item for years. The meatloaf is another longtime menu item, but you can always go for the Carribean grouper or the Maple Glazed Pistacio Dusted Spiral Half Rack of Lamb - quite a mouthful. For dessert, try the chocolate fondant or the homemade ice cream.

When Croce's began in the Gas Lamp, the street was well-trodden and a bit in shambles. But the bar and restaurant, with the entertaining, good live music, brought a new attention to the area. Now, after 25 years in business, Croce's is the pulsing heart of the district, pumping out great music on a nightly basis.