‘Pali-Pino’ flavors: Fil-Am chef brings new twist to Filipino cuisine
Chef Carlo Lamagna | Photos from magnapdx/Instagram
Blending culture with cuisine, renowned Filipino American Chef Carlo Lamagna lit up San Francisco’s Reem’s Mission with a flavor-packed “Pali-Pino” dinner in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month.
As part of the Sunday Supper Series, Lamagna, who is the owner and executive chef of Portland’s award-winning Magna Kusina, crafted a five-course menu that paid homage to both Arab and Filipino culinary traditions, paired with AAPI-inspired cocktails by Viridian Bar held just recently.
The event marked a collaboration between Reem’s California, Viridia and Lamagna, whose restaurant Magna Kusina has gained national recognition for reimagining Filipino comfort food with modern finesse.
Known for transforming beloved Filipino dishes and comfort food like adobo and sisig into beautifully plated tributes to heritage, Lamagna’s mission is to honor Filipino culture with every bite.
Take for instance, he revamped the simple adobo into a mushroom adobo that has fried mushrooms and mushroom conserva, soft boiled egg, seaweed and nasturtium adobo vinaigrette.
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Raised between the Philippines and the United States, Lamagna has long carried the responsibility of cultural storytelling through food. His vision earned him a spot among Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs in 2021 and a finalist nod for the James Beard Award in 2022 under the Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific category.
At the heart of his work lies a commitment to authenticity and action. Lamagna recently joined Kolectivo, a grassroots initiative that goes beyond traditional notions of community.
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In an Instagram post on Magna Kusina’s page, he reflected, “For many years I always thought that being in community was the top priority for me… I realized that members in my community sometimes took up space… preventing growth or action.”
This inspired the birth of Kolectivo which is a space driven by action, mutual support and meaningful change.
“We support in any way we can… uplifting and helping others, through good times and bad,” he shared, emphasizing it’s not about optics, but real results.
