Right in the Kisser: Japanese Comfort Food Is a Knockout in East Nashville

I was once stuck overnight at LaGuardia Airport. Actually, since the airline helpfully admitted that the flight cancellation was its fault, I received a voucher that allowed me to stay not in the airport, but at a Japanese-run hotel nearby in New York’s second Chinatown neighborhood, in Flushing, Queens.

For my dinner needs, I was able to phone a friend who directed me to a Szechuan restaurant within walking distance of the hotel. (Not surprisingly, it was excellent, and I was the only non-Asian person in the bustling cafe.) But before leaving I did take time to browse the hotel’s room service menu. The most intriguing item was the Japanese Breakfast, a specialty that shuns typical American breakfast foods in favor of a generally healthier bento-style offering that includes grilled fish, veggies, rice and a bowl of miso soup.

That concept, of a Japanese-style savory, bacon-free breakfast bento, has lingered in my mind for years, but I’d never seen it in Nashville. Until now, when it recently appeared as one of the stars of the menu at Kisser, the seismically popular Japanese-inspired restaurant in East Nashville’s Highland Yards complex.

Kisser opened in March, and it has proven to be a major hit. Married owners Leina Horii and Brian Lea, who both boast high-powered restaurant résumés, focus their efforts on Japanese comfort food — the kind of fare Horii enjoyed as a child, spending time with her grandparents in Japan. The name “Kisser” is a play on kissaten, the word for a kind of friendly neighborhood restaurant that has been popular for decades in Japan.

It’s worth noting that Kisser is hugely popular in spite of a couple barriers to entry. The restaurant is closed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and on the days it is open, it operates only during lunchtime hours. No reservations are offered, so lines of aspiring Kisser diners are sometimes lengthy. I’ve heard of waits as long as 90 minutes, though on my visits I was seated within 20 minutes or so. The system entails checking in at the door by utilizing a QR code; then you receive updates on your progress via your phone.

These twists are far from deal breakers, as evidenced by the huge splash Kisser has made on Nashville’s dining scene. It earned a writer’s choice for Best New Restaurant in the Scene’s latest Best of Nashville issue. It has also garnered some national coverage, including in The New York Times and Bon Appétit.

The pump of national notice was probably primed by Kisser’s affiliation with the Goldberg brothers of Strategic Hospitality, the local company behind Bastion, The Catbird Seat and The Patterson House, among other projects. Kisser, in fact, started as a pop-up that Lea and Horii staged at The Patterson House. Now, after 10 months as a brick-and-mortar spot, the team has the whole endeavor, food and service, down to a culinary science.

The tight-but-terrific menu has two stars in terms of word-of-mouth in the local food world. One is the aforementioned Japanese Breakfast; the other is the Chicken Katsu Sandwich. On three recent visits I found both to be fully satisfying while leaving the diner eager to return for another helping.

On my visits, the bento-style box of the Japanese Breakfast was anchored by a small filet of miso-sake-marinated cobia. The succulent fish featured a bracing fermented tang from the sake marinade. It shared a compartment with tamagoyaki, slices of Japanese-style omelet. Three little spots within the bento cube were filled by vegetable sides, some of which could also be ordered separately: a crunchy salad featuring crisp shredded cabbage in “Leina’s dad’s carrot ginger dressing”; a little nest of green beans; and the most gorgeous veggie dish I’ve had in a while, a salad crafted of Japanese pumpkin, with mizuna greens in a yuzu-honey vinaigrette. When bitten, the chunks of bright-orange pumpkin yielded soft, sweet-and-savory pumpkin meat enrobed in incredibly tender green rind. In a larger square, a portion of rice was topped with furikake, the Japanese seasoning blend speckled with sesame seeds, tiny shreds of seaweed and more.

The Japanese Breakfast, which goes for $25, can be amped up with onsen tamago, a delicately slow-cooked egg ($2.50), and ikura, or salmon roe ($5.50). (Adding both gets you a bit of a discount at $7.) As mentioned, I’d been wondering about the Japanese Breakfast phenomenon for years, and I’m happy to say my pangs of curiosity were more than redeemed.

The other menu star, the Chicken Katsu Sandwich ($13), relies on another Japanese specialty: milk bread. This is a very moist, very mild white bread, made with (no surprise) milk in the batter. Two toasted squares of house-made milk bread were layered atop and below crispy fried chicken and cabbage slaw. The combination was toothsome and memorable.

Kisser also serves up noodle bowls, featuring handmade udon. The spicy miso version ($16) was my favorite, enriched with shredded duck confit and sesame duck fat in an impeccable spicy red miso broth. I loved it. The other udon bowl, with beef tataki (seared beef from local Bear Creek Farm), was good but didn’t send me stratospheric in the way the miso did. But the luxurious beef and accompanying mushrooms were definitely a cut above most noodle bowl accouterments.

And speaking of beef, Kisser’s beef tartare ($9) was remarkable. The raw beef, so sweet and rich, was a thing to savor, served on grilled slices of gelled, cooked rice (almost like a rice version of polenta). Sadly, I had to ask to skip the avocado accompaniment, because I’m allergic to what is sometimes known as the alligator pear. But I imagine the tartare would be even better when paired with its green companion.

The cooks in the open kitchen kept the line lively, and as for the front of the house, service was friendly but unobtrusive. Though the place is always thronged, with gaggles of customers biding their time in the building’s atrium, the staff tended to each diner in a way that was efficient but never felt rushed. It was quite an experience.

Kisser has delivered a big, lovable smooch to Nashville’s dining scene.