Smoked meat and Japanese umami are two of the most powerful culinary weapons in the world, and Kisser’s got ’em both. The Patterson House pop-up was a knockout from night one. There’s salmon inari, which is a light but meaty masterpiece: cold-smoked fish, cured in miso and sake, topped with salmon roe on fried tofu. There are black-garlic wings, hamachi and crispy rice cakes and red-miso mac-and-cheese. And there’s a pork sandwich that somehow captures every flavor in a bowl of ramen, served with seaweed potato chips that I believe, if bagged and sold, could set up chefs Brian Lea and Leina Horii for life. Get there before they prove me right and blow this joint.
Best Japanese Food
Kisser at Patterson House
Kisser's wings
