A Duxbury, Massachusetts native, Chef Marissa Hardman brings more than 25 years of culinary experience to her role as executive chef at Avvio Ristorante in Millbury.
Marissa got her first taste of the culinary world in high school, where cooking classes in her school’s mini-restaurant sparked an unexpected interest in cooking. At the time, she was pursuing a career in creative writing and journalism. But after college, a passion for both cooking and snowboarding took her to Winter Park, Colorado, where she began working as a line cook.
She quickly rose through the ranks at Pole Creek Golf Club, eventually becoming executive chef. While there, she began smoking meats for golf tournaments—a side project that inspired her to open her own restaurant, Smokehouse BBQ, where she took on everything from designing and building the space to running the kitchen.
From there, Marissa sought out opportunities to learn from some of the country’s top culinary talent, joining the opening team at Denver’s Stoic & Genuine before going on to serve as executive chef at Gozo, Ste. Ellie and Sushi Den. Her experience spans wood-fired cooking, Mediterranean and Italian cuisine, butchery, dry-aging, sous vide and Japanese cuisine.
In 2024, Marissa returned to the East Coast, joining Newport Restaurant Group as executive sous chef at Hemenway’s in Providence. Today, she brings that breadth of experience to Avvio, where her philosophy is simple: “Do simple better.” Her approach centers on thoughtful execution, fresh ingredients and letting quality speak for itself.
When she’s not in the kitchen, you’ll find Marissa snowboarding the mountains of Vermont.