Magna Kusina, Portland’s 2021 Restaurant of the Year, will expand with a new restaurant in Denver dubbed Magna Kainan, chef-owner Carlo Lamagna confirmed Thursday.
Lamagna, a Food & Wine Best New Chef in 2021, is partnering with Denver’s Culinary Creative Group on the project, described as “an evolved offering of his Magna Kusina concept” in a press release Thursday. Magna Kainan is expected to open in early 2024 in a massive new mixed-use complex in Denver’s rapidly developing RiNO district. Kainan is the Tagalog word for “eatery.”
“Partnering with Chef Carlo Lamagna, one of the country’s hottest chefs, brings more diversity to Denver,” Culinary Creative Group’s CEO Juan Padró wrote in a press release. “We don’t have a lot of Filipino cuisine in Denver, and I can’t think of a more meaningful way to add to the Denver dining scene landscape than to partner with a nationally and internationally recognized chef like Carlo.”
The Thursday release erroneously stated that “chef Lamagna and his culinary team will move from Portland to Denver” for the project. Lamagna will continue to live in Portland.
Magna Kainan is not the only upcoming expansion in the extended Magna Kusina universe. Magna Kubo, a new lechonería from the Magna crew, is aiming to open this spring in Beaverton’s Old Town, The Oregonian was first to report last year. That project is pitched as a Filipino take on a Southern meat-and-three, where you can build a platter with meat and sides, drop by for rice bowl with pork belly at lunch or take home a half chicken, some lumpia and some pancit canton for dinner, Lamagna said.
Magna Kainan is expected to open in early 2024 in Denver’s RiNO (River North) neighborhood. Magna Kubo is aiming for a spring opening at 12406 S.W. Broadway St. in Beaverton.
Read more:
Modern Filipino restaurant Magna opens in Southeast Portland
Magna Kusina is Portland’s 2021 Restaurant of the Year
Portland’s Carlo Lamagna named among Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs for 2021
Magna Kusina is expanding with Kubo, a Beaverton lechonería
— Michael Russell; mrussell@oregonian.com
Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe