Kisser, a brick-and-mortar location of Chef Brian Lea and Leina Horii’s well-followed pop-up concept, is a casual restaurant serving Japanese comfort food. Kisser pays homage to the Japanese kissaten, a traditional neighborhood café where locals gather to eat, drink, and hang out. The menu will feature familiar Japanese comfort foods, many of which Chef Horii draws from childhood memories; including the Chicken Katsu Sandwich, a fried chicken sandwich with cabbage slaw, tonkatsu sauce, and Kisser’s popular fresh-baked and toasted milk bread; Curry Udon, a vegetable curry soup featuring fresh, hand-made udon noodles; and Inari, a traditionally simple dish made of tofu skin and rice, filled with various seasonal vegetables and seafood.  Designed to be inclusive, the menu will cater to a variety of dietary restrictions and allergies. Seasonal vegetables and herbs – many grown by the chefs themselves – will be showcased at different times of the year.

Anticipation for Lea and Horii’s restaurant has garnered both local and national recognition since its announcement in June 2022, including features in Eater Nashville as one of “Nashville’s Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings Fall 2022,” Bloomberg as one of the “14 Most Anticipated Restaurants in America,” Robb Report as one of “The 17 Most Hotly Anticipated Restaurant Openings in America for 2023,” and as one of Bon Appetit Magazine’s “12 Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings of 2023.” 

Chefs Brian Lea and Leina Horii bring with them impressive culinary backgrounds. Lea, originally from California, has worked with renowned chefs like Charlie Palmer, Jose Andres, Jordan Kahn, and Sean Brock. Horii, also from California, grew up in a restaurant family; her father a sushi chef, her mother running the kitchen in their family’s sushi restaurant. Though graduating pre-med from NYU, Horii chose to follow in her family’s footsteps and stay in the restaurant business. Horii honed her skills working with top chefs such as Jordan Kahn and Ludo Lefebvre. Together, they moved to Nashville to work with Strategic Hospitality in 2016, where Lea served as Executive Chef of Le Sel, and later as a Chef at Bastion. Horii worked as Sous Chef under Chef Ryan Poli at The Catbird Seat, later joining Lea at Bastion.