Reservations Open for Highly Anticipated Filipino Restaurant

"All the hard work is coming together," wrote chef Carlo Lamagna in an Instagram post announcing that beginning November 13, reservations will be available for one of the most anticipated openings of the year, Magna Kainan.

Lamagna was born in the Philippines and is the owner of Portland Filipino restaurant Magna Kusinan. In 2022, he was named a James Beard finalist for Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific and was one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs in 2021.

He partnered with local restaurant group Culinary Creative on this new project, which was originally announced in March 2023. Magna Kainan is located inside the Novel RiNo building at 1350 40th Street and joins rooftop bar Sorry Gorgeous, another Culinary Creative concept, and the upcoming second location of Odie B's.

"About eleven years ago, I was fortunate enough to meet some chefs while cooking at the Kentucky Derby," Lamagna shared in another recent social media post. "There were two in particular that I really connected with. Enter [Culinary Creative chef Max MacKissock] and [his wife, chef Jennifer Jasinski]. On our drive out to move to Portland the following year, we stopped in Denver for a visit and hung out with both Max and Jen and a few friends. Max had said to me, 'Why not just stop here?' I laughed and of course we continued on, but every year since then, Max would check in on me and ask if I was ready to open up in Denver, and every year I would say no...until a few years ago." In 2022, Lamagna made another trip to Denver to meet Culinary Creative founder Juan Padró, "and so began the birth of Magna Kainan."

"People don't realize that chef Carlo has a Michelin pedigree and gave all that up to showcase his culture. It's an amazing story," Padró told Westword last year. Lamagna says his goal is to use recipes from his relatives and to educate diners about traditional Filipino fare along the way — a welcome addition in a scene that is very short on options for food from the Philippines.

Magna Kainan is located at 1350 40th Street and will be open from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Monday starting November 13 and in soft-opening mode through November 20. For more information, visit magnadenver.com; for reservations, visit OpenTable.