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Jerked at Croce's
By Larry Knowles
January 23, 2006
Gaslamp District--We sat at the corner table on the terrace at Croce’s in the Gaslamp Quarter and paused to listen to the music. It was awful. Monotonous synth whirls and pulsating electronic beats.
It was no “Time in a Bottle.”
Our table abutted the terrace of Sadaf, a Persian restaurant that converted to a dance club after a certain hour. Unfortunately, all the music came over the Plexiglas divider and infiltrated our conversation. We had a good time blaming the music for the banal conversation we were having.
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Since 1985 |
Speaking of “Time in a bottle,” when our menus were delivered, mine had a date of Summer 2005 at the top. Hey, I didn’t mind,…as long as the food was made to order. The service was very good. I always respect a waiter who gives you an honest appraisal of the menu. “What do you think of the Free Range Chicken?” I asked. |
“It’s not very good,” he said unabashedly. “I don’t recommend it.”
“What’s so bad about it?”
“It’s basically on the menu for people who don’t like fish or meat. Also, it’s a thigh, not a breast, so there’s not that much to it.”
I wasn’t going to eat at the renowned Croce’s and order an afterthought. I asked him for his recommendation. He said something about the fish, which I wasn’t interested in, then mentioned the Jamaican jerk tenderloin.
Now that got my attention. Far from an afterthought, any dish with jerk seasoning is distinctive. Jerk seasoning, after all, is typically made with habanero or scotch bonnet peppers, along with cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and thyme.
Are you familiar with the scotch bonnet? It’s one of the most potent peppers on the planet, with a heat rating of 150k-325k Scoville units. (Tabasco, for example, weighs in at 2,500 to 5,000 units.) The scotch bonnet is so toxic that when eaten raw it’s been known to cause dizziness, numbness, and a burning sensation around the mouth and hands. It’s a real bastard.
So, I went with the Jamaican jerk pork ($28.95), served on a bed of shredded jicama. The dish also came with papaya mint salsa and curried raisin rice in stuffed red pepper. As it turns out, the pork was tender and perfectly cooked to order at medium, but it tasted bland. Where was the jerk? I swear I couldn’t taste it.
I felt, well, jerked.
Croce's
802 Fifth Ave.
San Diego, CA 92101
619.233.4355
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