El Cortez Gourmet Mart in downtown San Diego stocks the ground floor of the historic 1929 El Cortez building at Seventh Avenue and Ash Street, a Mills Act-designated landmark on the Cortez Hill ridge between Balboa Park and Little Italy. The curated wine and craft beer selection goes well beyond typical convenience stock, carrying a bottle-shop depth closer to what The Market By Buon Appetito offers on India Street for the Little Italy cooking crowd. Grab-and-go meals, frozen entrees, snacks, and everyday essentials serve the 85-unit residential condo community upstairs as well as guests from neighboring downtown hotels within walking distance of the Gaslamp Quarter. The wine inventory rotates through small-production California labels and imports at price points that reward browsing over bulk buying, a bottle-shop mentality shared with Cortez Hill Market & Deli on the adjacent block. Specialty charcuterie boards, imported cheeses, and seasonal provisions round out the highest-end catering-supply tier available from a neighborhood market on Cortez Hill.