Kisser is a concept developed by the husband and wife team Brian Lea and Leina Horii. It is an homage to the Japanese kissaten -a neighborhood spot serving comfort food where locals can eat, drink, and hang out.
Born in California, Brian Lea began his career working for chefs such as Charlie Palmer, Jose Andres, and Jordan Kahn. He moved to Charleston to cook at Husk with chef Sean Brock, and was promoted to sous chef of the opening team at Husk Nashville. From there he moved back to Los Angeles to be the CDC of Trois Mec, where he met his wife.
He has since come back to Nashville, to work with Strategic Hospitality as chef of their French concept, Le Sel, then as part of the team of chefs at Bastion.
Leina grew up in a restaurant family. Her father is a sushi chef, and her mother runs the kitchen in their family's sushi restaurant in California. She graduated pre-med from NYU, but decided to stay in the restaurant business. She worked as front of house management for the Ace and Thompson Hotels in New York City.
After moving back to California to help with her family's restaurant, she made the transition to back of house. She began cooking under the instruction of chef Jordan Kahn at Red Medicine, then moved on to Petit Trois and Trois Mec with chef Ludo Lefebvre. In Nashville she was the sous chef of the Catbird Seat for chef Ryan Poli, before moving on to Bastion to work with her husband.
Kisser is their first restaurant.
