Unsure where Houston's in-the-know crowd is eating and drinking? It's easy to spot lines out the door, but some underlying trends are harder to see.
We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp to deduce which local businesses have been on the tips of diners' tongues this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at Houston businesses on Yelp by category and counted how many reviews each received. Rather than compare them based on number of reviews alone, we calculated a percentage increase in reviews over the past month, and tracked businesses that consistently increase their volume of reviews to identify statistically significant outliers compared to past performance.
Read on to see which spots are riding a trend, right now.
Decadent Café And Dessert Bar
Open since January, this cafe and breakfast and brunch spot, which offers desserts and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp.
Citywide, breakfast and brunch spots saw a median 3.5 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, but Decadent Café and Dessert Bar saw an imposing 173.7 percent increase, with a slight downward trend from a 4.5-star rating a month ago to four stars today.
It's not the only trending outlier in the breakfast and brunch category: Mastrantos has seen a 48.4 percent increase in reviews.
Decadent Café and Dessert Bar is a national chain with locations in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Kansas and Colorado.
The first Houston franchise, located at 4340 Westheimer Road, Suite 150, in Afton Oaks / River Oaks Area, offers coffee, custom cakes, breakfast sandwiches and a dessert bar with pastries, cookies, brownies and more.
Yelpers recommend the gelato milk shake and the cookie pan pizza. (Find the full menu here.)
Big City Wings
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Kingwood Area's Big City Wings, the sports bar and New American spot, which offers chicken wings and more, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp saw a median 2.9 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, Big City Wings bagged a 73.3 percent increase in new reviews within that timeframe.
There's more that's trending on Houston's New American scene: B.B. Lemon has seen a 31.2 percent increase in reviews.
Big City Wings is a local franchise with many Houston-area locations. Open at 1522 Kingwood Drive since January, the bar and grill offers salads, wings, seafood, burgers, potatoes and more.
From the menu, try the Wing Basket, which includes 10 wings in your choice of 16 sauce flavors. The basket also comes with waffle fries, celery and either ranch or blue cheese dressing. (Here's the rest of the menu.)
Dan's Seafood & Wings
Mid West's Dan's Seafood & Wings is also making waves. Open since January at 3991 S. Gessner Road, the Cajun/Creole spot, which offers seafood and chicken wings, has seen a 76.9 percent bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 3.6 percent for all businesses tagged "Seafood" on Yelp.
Dan's Seafood & Wings has one other location in Houston. On the menu, look for grilled or fried seafood combos with shrimp, oysters and fish. Yelpers recommend the New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp sauteed in a creole butter sauce, or the vegetable lo mein. (Check out the entire menu here.)
Over the past month, Dan's Seafood & Wings has maintained a solid five-star rating on Yelp.
Chicago's Famous Fried Chicken & Fish
Eldridge / West Oaks's Chicago's Famous Fried Chicken & Fish is the city's buzziest traditional American spot by the numbers.
The chicken shop and traditional American spot, which offers seafood and more and opened at 12303 Westheimer Road last September increased its new review count by 41.7 percent over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 3.2 percent for the Yelp category "American (Traditional)." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 3.0 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
Chicago's Famous Fried Chicken & Fish offers chicken and combo dinners served with the eatery's famous mild sauce. Try the catfish and wing combo, with bread and French fries, or the classic three-piece chicken tender dinner. (The rest of the menu can be found here.)
Me'lange Vietnamese Restaurant
Neartown - Montrose's Me'lange Vietnamese Restaurant is currently on the upswing in the Vietnamese category on Yelp.
While businesses categorized as "Vietnamese" on Yelp saw a median 5 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, this Vietnamese spot increased its by a considerable 115.4 percent—with its Yelp rating improving from 3.5 stars to four stars.
Open for business at 311 W. Gray St., Suite B, since January, the business offers soup, rice, chicken, fish, salad, steak, noodles and more.
Yelpers recommend the Singapore noodles, served with curry, carrot, onions, snow peas with a choice of meat. Another favorite: Viet's chicken salad, with cabbage, carrots, onion, mint and ginger sweet and sour sauce. (Check out the rest of the menu here.)
This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
