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The best food memories come from toddlerdom, when you could only express your joy over mom's cooking in monosyllables, and your mom still clapped when you later managed to properly poop it out. Paying tribute to those glory days, Mr. Yum.

From a Sushi Rock scion and plopped down right in Little Havana, Yum looks like a mod NYC sushi parlor (stained concrete floors, vibrant walls, orb-ish lights), but beyond raw fish the menu's heart is Thai and Vietnamese dishes the owner's mom used to cook up back in Bangkok. Family recipes include beef pho, pad Thai, a sweeter version of shrimp tempura, curries (red, Panang, Massaman) and other sauces (basil, ginger) over chicken, beef, pork, or shrimp, and sweet dipping-sauced Thai donuts (leaving Latin America nervously churro-ing their brow). Japanese fare includes paper-thin beef tataki, narutomaki (salmon or tuna, masago & avocado in a cucumber skin), and "layer cakes" of tuna or salmon tartare, rice, and seaweed; plus rolls like the "Mexican" (eel, avocado, cream cheese, and spices in a super-thin tortilla) and a fried white fish, avocado, cucumber, and spicy mayo number dubbed the "Havana" (the restaurant version of Obama donning that suspiciously pristine Red Sox cap when campaigning in Boston).

As for thirst, Yum serves wine, beer and, soon, 200+ brands of sake, your over-consumption of which'll knock you right back into the wonderful world of monosyllables.

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