Kisser

Kisser is a neighborhood restaurant conceived by husband-and-wife team Brian Lea and Leina Horii as an homage to the Japanese kissaten. The concept grows out of a series of pop-ups and a weekly farmers market stand the couple runs beginning in 2021 and culminates in the opening of their first restaurant, Kisser, in 2023; the restaurant holds a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand for its approachable, neighborhood-focused cuisine. Modeled on the kissaten tradition, Kisser offers a casual neighborhood atmosphere where locals eat, drink and linger in a relaxed, community-oriented space. Kisser serves Japanese comfort food inspired by the kissaten model, with a menu focused on approachable, everyday Japanese dishes. Co-founders and chefs Brian Lea and Leina Horii bring backgrounds in high-end kitchens and traditional family cooking: Lea begins his career in California working for chefs such as Charlie Palmer, José Andrés and Jordan Kahn, moves to Charleston to cook at Husk with Sean Brock, serves as sous chef on the opening team of Husk Nashville and returns to Los Angeles as CDC of Trois Mec, where he meets Horii. Horii grows up in a restaurant family—her father is a sushi chef and her mother runs the kitchen at the family’s sushi restaurant—trains under Jordan Kahn and Ludo Lefebvre and works as sous chef at The Catbird Seat in Nashville. Specialties include Soba a la carte, Big Chirashi and Asparagus.