Brookline and Japan: couldn’t be more different. One is the birthplace of JFK. The other: samurai warriors. But now that Japanese tabletop BBQ joint Gyu-Kaku has soft-opened its first greater-Boston outpost, the two are forever linked. Food-wise, anyway. And here are the numbers about it.

Wait time at 8pm on a Sunday: 38 minutes
Twelve-ounce mugs of Kirin Ichiban lager on draft that kept our researcher company at the 21-seat bar: 3
Porcelain lucky cat dolls staring him down the whole time: 1
Bottles of suds in the bucket-of-beers option: 4
Sakes that share half a name with Akira Kurosawa: 1
Times the staff did a call-and-response traditional Japanese welcome to a new group being sat: 4
Ideal date number this will be charming for: 2
Intimate, curtain-drawn table to request for said date: anything in the 50s
BBQ dishes in the two-person samurai combo: 6
Friends you can use their secluded, wood-ensconced private dining room with: 19
Days their Angus beef is aged before you throw it on the grill: 21
Marinades and toppings to slather on your culinary handiwork: 10
Percentage of those containing garlic: 50
Chances a stick of gum will go a long way after dinner here: 100%