Carlo Lamagna

The Path

Carlo Lamagna trained at Macomb Community College and The Culinary Institute of America before stepping into the kitchen with sharpened ambition and a clear sense that food could carry more than flavor alone. Those early years of study gave way to a career built through exacting rooms and increasingly influential roles. He went on to work as chef at North Pond in Chicago, Illinois, chef at Perennial in Chicago, Illinois, and executive chef at Clyde Common in Portland, Oregon. Each step seems to have refined not only his skill but his point of view, bringing him closer to the cooking that would ultimately define his work. From there, Carlo became owner at Magna Kubo in Beaverton, Oregon, a move that marked another turn toward building a culinary world of his own. Today, he is owner / chef-owner of Magna Kusina and owner of Magna Kainan, continuing to shape his culinary identity with precision and momentum.

The Work Today

The defining title now is chef-owner of Magna Kusina in Portland, Oregon. Its specialty is Filipino cuisine, and the cooking carries the same measured philosophy he voiced at Clyde Common, only now the signal is stronger, more direct, and more personal. Here, the food does not explain itself all at once. It unfolds in gestures that feel deliberate and intimate, as though each dish is offering a small doorway into a broader tradition. One note from the menu makes that intimacy especially clear: “Pork and Shiitake lumpia is one, it's my mom's own recipe.” The line does more than identify a dish; it opens a family album within the frame of a professional kitchen. In that single sentence, inheritance and craft are joined, with home cooking translated into restaurant form without losing its emotional charge. With Magna Kusina, his work centers on Filipino food presented through his own kitchen, where the flavors arrive with confidence but also with the generosity implied in his own words: a wish to bring people in gradually, with enough care that curiosity can turn into recognition.

Signature

Carlo's signature dishes include Pork and Shiitake lumpia, Beef Bulalo, Crispy Kalderetang Kambing, and Wagyu Kilawin. Together they sketch the range of his cooking: comfort and complexity, memory and precision, richness and restraint. Each one suggests a different angle on Filipino cuisine while remaining grounded in the same clear culinary voice.

In Their Words “Pork and Shiitake lumpia is one, it's my mom's own recipe.” “But I want to introduce people to it in small ways.”

Acclaim

Carlo's honors include James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific, Best New Chefs (2021), and StarChefs Rising Stars Award (2018).