Written by Chelsea from Some Day I’ll Learn

A little while ago I was out with a San Diego blogging group arranged by @sdbargainmama and @iizliz when I had the opportunity to meet Ingrid Croce at Croce’s Restaurant in the Gaslamp District. I’d heard great things about the restaurant – which stands as a tribute to legendary singer Jim Croce – but hearing the story from Ingrid herself was remarkable.

Before Jim Croce became known for his chart-topping hits such as Bad, Bad Leroy Brown and Time in a Bottle, he and Ingrid met in Philadelphia when she was a sophomore in high school and he was a sophomore in college (he was a judge at a singing contest where she earned first place!). The two married and spent years singing together. They moved from Philadelphia to New York, and on to Pennsylvania, where they delighted in making home-cooked meals for their friends and fellow musicians. Shortly after moving to San Diego, the pair were out and about downtown looking for a restaurant one night. They were disappointed by the city center (which was in a relative state of disrepair at the time) and Jim remarked that they should open their own restaurant and offer San Diego a taste of their home cooking and music.

A week later, Jim died in a plane crash. Ingrid dreamt of opening a restaurant in his honor and after twelve long years of legal battles for the rights to his name, her dream was realized – on the exact corner where she and Jim had stopped! Croce’s was a hit and the Gaslamp district grew from it’s spot on and Fifth and F, evolving into the entertainment center that it is today. The Croce empire now includes a jazz bar, catering company, cafe, art gallery and – of course – the restaurant, where Croce’s music is played and patrons enjoy impeccable service as well as a variety of delicious food.

Ingrid has continued to live an inspiring life, heading numerous business developments. She has also authored memoir/cookbook “Thyme in a Bottle,” which includes recipes from the restaurant. She was kind enough to share the book and some of Jim Croce’s CDs with our group when we visited. She even met her current husband at the very table that I dined at! (I know, I’m a sucker for a good love story).

Here’s some of the group. CJ (@publicremix) from Public Remix, me, Cathy (@cathynguyen) from Leather and Bags, and Suzette (@MamarazziKnowsB) from Mamarazzi Knows Best. And of course, don’t forget to check out @IngridCroce from Croce’s Restaurant (@CrocesRest)!

San Diego Home and Garden Magazine – November 2009
by Phyllis Van Doren

Several years ago we were sitting in a tiki bar in Tahiti, in the old Bali Hai Hotel, and I thought, every man should have a tiki bar. So I came home and made one. Thus Jim Rock reminisces on the beginning inspiration for the remodel of the 1920s Bankers Hill home where he and his wife, Restaurateur Ingrid Croce, love to entertain.

We were in the house several years before we decided to remodel but since falling in love with the people and flavors of Tahiti, we have made about 14 trips, traveling there once or twice each year. Though each visit brings home new enthusiasms and new decor for the house, in its current state it is the perfect canyon-side setting for a casual party dressed n the colors and recipes of fall.

Festivities all start in the tiki bar, of course, just inside the front door to the right. Rock, who already played the guitar, 10 years ago took up the study of the ukulele on a prewar Martin instrument, in perfect accord with the Arts & Crafts-meets-Polynesia setting of their home. You can’t beat live music to get any gathering warmed up and we found him strumming and singing as the appointed gathering time approached.

Tikis are Polynesian gods of wood or stone and the Croce/Rock home displays several collections, large and small. Two especially large figures with riveting eyes guard the bar. Guests start ringing the bell and welcoming flutes of Veuve Cliquot champagne are poured. A Golden Ahi Poke appetizer with taro chips, which is found on the menu at Croce’s Restaurant and Jazz Bar in downtown’s Gaslamp Quarter is served on the bar Rock made of a solid piece of purple heart. The bar is faced with authentic tapa cloth brought from Tahiti.

Beyond the bar, the compact show-stopping kitchen is visible with Croce in a form-fitting red Prada dress and stiletto heels darting in and out and peering into the oven to make sure the first course, Baked Bread and Onion Soup, is bubbling to perfection. Her red dress stands out against the perfect green tile of the kitchen counter and backsplash, a long story of desire, search and find. Croce, who studied to be a potter/ceramist at Rhode Island School of Design, had the desire for a green tile tht perfectly matched the foliage seen out the window. The beautiful handmade product was finally found, through Waterworks, and is a stunning foil for the mango wood cabinet door and drawer pulls hand-carved to order in Indonesia. In another example of Rock’s relentless search for admired craftspeople, these in turn were commissioned to match the Indonesian royal tapestry cabinet that stands in the kitchen instead of the usual kitchen shelving.

A very large shell chandelier hangs in a stairwell off the bar. It’s a real conversation piece tha turns out to be functional lighting. I looked at one of these for years in a hotel in Papeete, says Rock, and after a long search finally found the person who made them – Tavana – a toothless elderly man tattooed head to toe who also is a cosume maker for dance troups. Long story short, after many months of long-distance negotiations and mistakes, Rock and Croce went to Tahiti and collected the chandelier they had dreamed of and made arrangements to ship it to San Diego. Turns out Tavana also made a second different one as a gift. It now hangs above another stairway.

Back in the kitchen, we taste a succulent Gruyere Potato-au-Gratin just out of the oven and a mouthful of the Crispy Skin Salmon. Fall is in the air and coming to the table. As guests mingle, many of them Croce’s working family from the restaurant, they naturally migrate to the deck that surrounds the canyon side of the house and winds its way down three levels to a tennis court. A bar with more champagne and wine has been set up on the deck just outside the kitchen and dining room where fellow chef and friend Bernard Guillas, the voluble executive chef of the Marine Room, holds court. Though Croce loves to entertain at home, most of her meeting, greeting and perfecting dishes is done at her restaurant, a hands-on business for her and Rock. For this party, tables are set up in the garage where prep work takes place, with Croce’s executive chef, James Clark, at the helm.

One of the founders of San Diego’s restaurant week, Croce has expanded her support of the industry with her latest venture, ingrid’s list, a consortium of restaurants in several cities offering prix fixe, three-course bargains in fine dining. In addition to heading for her restaurant in the afternoon and evening, she is wearing her publishing hat. Her latest project, The Jim Croce Anthology: 40 Songs, 40 Stories, honors the memory of Croce’s late husband, singer/songwriter Jim Croce.

Fall and winter are my favorite times to entertain, says Croce, relaxed now and surveying her happy guests as the sun sets beyond the deck. I grew up in the East and we were very into Thanksgiving. Jim and I still are. It’s the time of year we particularly treasure when you renew your ties to family and friends.