Yoki Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar Sake and sashimi in Central

Despite what the folks in Malden tell you, the town of Medford's actually exported a lot over the years: the song "Jingle Bells", the gypsy moth... Keith F-ing Tkachuk! Adding one of their favorite sushi restaurants to a list so distinguished it includes Keith F-ing Tkachuk, Yoki.

After five years on the Hub's outskirts dealing with Tufts girls in parachute skirts, YJRSB has moved closer to MIT girls wearing, um, likely not parachute skirts, morphing C'Square's short-lived Floating Rock into a second iteration of their Japanese kitchen:

The Starters (If this was a hockey reference it would obviously include Keith Tkachuk): Lose yourself in their lineup of peaceful-nature-sounding apps like the chopped crab/ shrimp/ octopus Yoki Mountain, ponzu sauce-marinated fresh yellowtail Summer Lake, and the deep-fried, squid-wrapped smoked salmon and avocado Tiger Eyes. Okay, so not all of them follow that peaceful nature theme.

The Sushi: From there, plow through their maki roll Hub Sports Series (one for each local team!) before moving on to teriyaki/ hibachi/ udon classics and entrees like Yoki Island, described as three types of sashimi-styled fish "lightly torched to perfection", also what Donald Sutherland said about all those houses in Backdraft.

Liquid Courage: And to wash it all down YJRSB's pouring your fave sakes, scorpion bowls, and Japanese suds, as well as cocktails that range from a Flaming Volcano (rum, triple sec, pineapple) to the questionably monikered vodka & melon-mixed Pearl Harbor, which Keith F-ing Tkachuk would never order because he's just too damn cognizant of offending other cultures.