Nashville's Kisser named James Beard Award finalist. Here's how the owners reacted
Kisser, a Japanese comfort food restaurant in the Highland Yards development in East Nashville, is Nashville's lone James Beard Award finalist. Husband and wife owners Brian Lea and Leina Horii pulled in the nomination for Best New Restaurant.
Though Nashville has had semifinalists for Best New Restaurant, including The Catbird Seat and Bastion, this is the first time a local restaurant has made it to the finalist round of that category.
The James Beard Foundation announced this year's "short list" live from Washington D.C. on April 3. As is tradition, winners will be announced during a star-studded culinary gala in Chicago, this year scheduled for June 10.
Lea and Horii launched Kisser as a pop-up at The Patterson House in 2021, opening the doors to their first brick-and-mortar in late March 2023. Since then, the restaurant has served overstuffed inari, hand-pulled noodles in Japanese curry and sake-marinated yellowtail collars to warm receptions and large crowds.
More: A guide to Nashville's James Beard-nominated chefs and restaurants
Even though the restaurant is only open for lunch, waits can be projected at more than two hours, though it rarely takes that long. One weekend lunch the restaurant, which has only 40 seats, fed nearly 190 diners.
"That wildly exceeded our expectations and what we thought space was even capable of honestly," said Horii.
To that end, Kisser could eventually grow into something bigger, the chefs said. What that looks like remains to be seen.
"We definitely are looking to expand in the future," Horii said. "We have no solid plans, but that's something that's on the horizon."
The chefs never imagined when they targeted their tiny Highland Yards space they'd need more than 25 seats and a skeleton crew.
"We just thought we'd be a quiet neighborhood lunch spot," Horii said. "We had no expectations of any sort of press or attention."
"One of the reasons we went into Highland Yards is that it's not on a main street or in a busy area," Lea said. "It's just kind of tucked away."
To adhere to Tennessee's liquor laws, the couple soon had to push for 40 seats, which means diners are sometimes seated in the hallway. No one seems to mind.
"People ask why we're so small, and we say we thought it would primarily be us," Horii said.
"That changed fast," Lea said.
More: Why this East Nashville restaurant is one of the most exciting in the U.S.
But the biggest surprise is how fluid it feels to run a brick-and-mortar after the chefs previously spent two years hosting pop-ups in ever-changing locations. That felt like opening a new restaurant every day. This feels like coming home.
"Opening a restaurant just felt natural," Horii said. "It's not easy, it's always going to be hard, but it felt like something we'd done before."
Kisser is at 747 Douglas Ave. More at www.kisserrestaurant.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville food: Kisser owners named James Beard Award finalists
