Marco Avila

Where They Are Now

The daily work of service sits at the center of Marco Avila’s current practice: line control, timing, and the steady correction that keeps a kitchen moving. Since 2015, Acquolina has given him a platform where creative decisions and ownership responsibilities meet, while MODI Restaurant adds another operating context for the same standard of execution. The throughline is consistency, with flavor built through layered decisions rather than flourish.

Career - Executive Chef & Co-Owner, Acquolina, San Francisco, CA (2015–present) - Executive Chef, MODI Restaurant, San Francisco, CA

Signature

Spaghetti Parmigiano sits among Marco Avila’s signature dishes, and it makes sense within a practice that treats pasta as a precise medium, not a casual one. The work here is in texture, sauce adhesion, and timing, how a bowl is built so that every element lands together. In that register, the dish reads as controlled, familiar, and exacting.

In Their Words “I have a long standing love affair with pasta. I love to smell it, touch it, see how the sauce blends and covers it. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, really.” The quote is useful because it names the senses that matter in pasta work: aroma, texture, and the way sauce is carried on the noodle. For Marco Avila, pasta is a material to be handled closely, with attention to how it behaves before it reaches the plate. That kind of attention is part technique, part habit.

FAQ What is Marco Avila's current role? Marco Avila is Executive Chef & Co-Owner. What is Marco Avila known for? Italian-Mexican fusion cuisine.