Wondering where Portland'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 discover which local businesses have been getting a significant uptick in attention this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at Portland 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 getting plenty of attention, right now.
Hunnymilk
Open since 2018, this breakfast and brunch spot, which offers coffee and tea, juice and smoothies and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp.
Citywide, breakfast and brunch spots saw a median 2 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, but HunnyMilk saw a 37.5 percent increase, maintaining a healthy four-star rating throughout. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis HunnyMilk's review count increased by more than 190 percent.
It's not the only trending outlier in the breakfast and brunch category: Canard has seen a 12.8 percent increase in reviews, and Von Ebert Brewing has seen a 7.7 percent bump.
Located at 1981 W. Burnside St. in Northwest, HunnyMilk offers savory or sweet dishes, like buttermilk biscuits with chorizo gravy or poppy seed crepes.
Eem
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Boise's Eem, the cocktail bar and Thai spot, which offers barbecue and more, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Cocktail Bars" on Yelp saw a median 3.6 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, Eem bagged a 50 percent increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a superior 4.5-star rating.
Open at 3808 N. Williams Ave. since February 2019, Eem offers smoked mackerel, curry, stir fry and vacation drinks.
Ruth's Chris Steak House
Downtown Portland's well-established Ruth's Chris Steak House is also making waves. Open since 1997 at 850 S.W. Broadway, this outpost of the steakhouse and traditional American chain, which offers seafood and more, has seen a 4.6 percent bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.6 percent for all businesses tagged "Steakhouses" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Ruth's Chris Steak House's review count increased by more than 360 percent.
Ruth's Chris Steak House offers ribeye, creamed spinach, seared ahi tuna and more. Over the past month, it's maintained a strong four-star rating among Yelpers.
Jacqueline
Hosford-Abernethy's Jacqueline is the city's buzziest New American spot by the numbers.
The well-established cocktail bar and New American spot, which offers seafood and more and opened at 2039 S.E. Clinton St. in 2016, increased its new review count by 5.7 percent over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 2.1 percent for the Yelp category "American (New)." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 2.2 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
Jacqueline offers oysters, cocktails, smoked salmon belly and more.
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.
