When Gina Petti and Roberto Cortez moved from San Francisco to the Upstate 15 years in the past, they didn’t plan on turning into pioneers of the Upstate’s meals truck motion or opening a restaurant.
“We had been social cooks at first,” says Cortez, co-owner of ASADA. “We like to be artistic and to experiment with meals. Cooking collectively is how we talk – it’s a connection between the 2 of us and to different individuals.”
Cooking for buddies gave the couple an opportunity to check out their recipes, however a meals truck, affectionately named LOLA, put their ardour to the take a look at.
“LOLA was my loopy concept,” Cortez says. “It was a option to see how individuals would reply to our type of meals.”
And identical to that, the meals truck was a success, and the pair shortly gained a rock-star following for his or her recent, scratch-made mission-style tacos.
“It was a complete excessive,” says Cortez. “We always stayed booked for occasions.”
The rising reputation additionally gave Cortez and Petti the arrogance essential to take the subsequent step of their culinary journey. In 2016, they opened ASADA on Wade Hampton Boulevard.
“With the meals truck, we discovered that individuals had been inquisitive about totally different meals and prepared for brand spanking new and totally different experiences,” says Petti, co-owner of ASADA. “The restaurant gave us extra room to broaden the menu and a chance to experiment with new dishes.”
Each Dish Has a Story
Initially from Nicaragua, Cortez grew up in Mexico, and Petti’s household is from Korea and Italy. Collectively they convey a confluence of types, flavors, and aptitude to each plate.
ASADA’s menu options recent, scratch-made mission-style tacos, quesadillas, burritos, and nachos and an unbeatable lineup of made-to-order fashionable Latin American eats.
“Whereas all of our specials are impressed by custom, we all the time put our personal twist to it,” Cortez says.
The menu of specials contains about 20 distinctive choices. Just a few favorites embrace a Japanese-inspired fried hen taco and the Nicaraguan-style churrasco, a spin on Cortez’s household recipe, served with a house-made chimichurri and an escabeche salad.
You’ll additionally discover a couple of creative vegan and vegetarian gadgets like grilled candy potatoes and leeks sopes with a charred purple pepper and guajillo romesco sauce and a grilled portobello and Peruvian chocolo taco with home cilantro-pepita pesto.
An added benefit of the restaurant is the area for a small backyard for rising recent components like jalapeno and habanero for house-made salsas and herbs and shishito peppers.
For Saturday brunch, sangria is a must-try. Obtainable growler-style choices embrace a conventional sangria made with a blackberry discount and a sweeter tropical model with mango.
A Vibrant and Clever Eating Area
Inside, the décor is informal, and the vitality is certain to brighten your temper.
We wished to deliver the identical persona and informal setting of the meals truck expertise to the restaurant,” says Cortez. “In a means, it’s very like the meals truck however with out wheels.”
Nice artwork, music, and meals come collectively within the eating space. “Meals, like music and artwork, permits us to higher perceive and recognize totally different cultures,” Petti says.
A latest refresh highlights an artwork assortment of vibrant works created by Cortez. A portion of the proceeds of each sale is donated to the Most cancers Society of Greenville.
“ASADA was born from the guts,” says Petti. “We would like individuals to really feel like they’re company in our home – a spot the place you might be joyful, have a good time with family and friends and revel in good meals.”
For extra data, go to www.asadarestaurant.com.
