"Ultimately we are all linked through food."
meet our founders The Heart And Soul Behind Asada
Gina Cortez Petti
A foodie from birth, Gina grew up in a household where every meal was reason for celebration. Born to an Italian father and Japanese mother, many of Gina’s fondest memories are of being in the kitchen with her entire family. Gina’s parents were both involved in the food business from a very early age. Her Dad assisted at his grandparent’s bakery while her Mom helped out at the family sushi restaurant. Now with the success of ASADA, Gina loves that simply by chance she is continuing the family tradition.
Born and raised in San Diego, California, Gina earned a BA in Clinical Psychology from San Francisco State University. She and her life partner Roberto met in San Francisco.
Because Gina’s thoughts are constantly centered around food, it just makes sense that her reading material is mostly cookbooks and food magazines. “I don’t have any formal culinary training. I just love and have this desire to create good food and then to try to feed everyone what I crafted.
The one other thing Gina loves almost as much as Roberto and good food is getting to know people. She enjoys being able to connect with her customers on a personal level. Gina has certainly never met a stranger and anyone who walks in the door or up to the window is greeted as if they were a long lost friend.
She truly believes in the quote, “Ultimately we are all linked through food” (Unknown) ― and says: “We may all come from different places and cultures but the one thing everyone has in common is the love of food.”
With her priorities clearly in order…family, friends, and food…Gina would like to invite everyone who she hasn’t already met to come out to the brick and mortar location at 903 Wade Hampton Boulevard!
Roberto Cortez
Co-owner and co-founder of ASADA, Roberto is originlly from Nicaragua and relocated to Greenville in 2007 with his life and business partner, Gina.
Roberto graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Industrial Design. Freelancing in and around the Bay area, Roberto was able to both explore and hone his creative skills in multidisciplinary areas of design.
Food has always been a huge passion in Roberto’s life and after relocating to the Greenville area he began formulating a plan to cross something big off his bucket list. Having no formal culinary education did not impede Roberto’s idea on starting his entrepreneurship in the food industry, and on August, 2012 ASADA Food Truck officially opened for business.
Inspired by tradition and motivated by innovation, Roberto doesn’t consider himself a “chef” but more of a “creative cook.” He explores his passion for good food by his own trial and error method; constantly tweaking ingredients until the dish feels, looks and especially, tastes exactly right.
When Roberto is not busy creating ASADA’s new specials or involved in the daily operation of running a restaurant, his leisure activities almost always include some form of creative endeavor. He usually can be found in his studio sketching out a new design or working on a new painting.
As a visual artist, Roberto often compares cooking to painting or creating art in general. His love for art coupled with his artistic talent is evident in ASADA’s imaginative and innovative menu offerings. “Cooking to me is like painting, with an empty plate as my blank canvas. Developing unique culinary dishes follows the same basic creative process. By utilizing a variety of cooking traditions combined with exciting new flavors and textures all blended into and highlighted with splashes of color, a new culinary masterpiece is born.”
