Unsure where New Orleans'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 restaurants have been most discussed this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at New Orleans 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 have the momentum heading into summer.
Felix's Restaurant & Oyster Bar
Open since June 2018, this Cajun/Creole and Southern spot, which offers seafood and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Southern" on Yelp.
Citywide, Southern spots saw a median 2.7 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, but Felix's Restaurant & Oyster Bar saw an 11 percent increase, maintaining a mixed 3.5-star rating throughout. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Felix's Restaurant & Oyster Bar's review count increased by more than 220 percent.
Located at 7400 Lakeshore Drive in Lake Shore-Lake Vista, Felix's Restaurant & Oyster Bar specializes in fresh raw oysters on the half shell, fried seafood platters and classic Southern dishes like jambalaya, red beans and rice, turtle soup, fried pickles and shrimp and grits.
Gris-Gris
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Lower Garden District's Gris-Gris, the Cajun/Creole spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Cajun/Creole" on Yelp saw a median 1.9 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, Gris-Gris bagged a 10.6 percent increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a sound 4.5-star rating.
There's more that's trending on New Orleans's Cajun/Creole scene: Mahony's Po-Boys & Seafood has seen a 10.2 percent increase in reviews, and Morrow's has seen a 9.2 percent bump.
Open at 1800 Magazine St. since August, Gris-Gris offers both lunch and dinner fare for its customers. In the afternoon, hone in on popular menu choices such as the roast beef po'boy or seafood stuffed crab with mixed greens and cherry tomatoes. Signature cocktails, wine and beer are all available.
Chartres House Restaurant and Oyster Bar
The French Quarter's Chartres House Restaurant and Oyster Bar is also making waves. Open since 2010 at 540 Chartres St., the well-established Cajun/Creole spot, which offers seafood and sandwiches, has seen a 1.9 percent bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.4 percent for all businesses tagged "Sandwiches" on Yelp. However, on a month-to-month basis Chartres House Restaurant and Oyster Bar's review count increased by more than 370 percent.
Chartres House Restaurant and Oyster Bar's menu features fried alligator, crab and corn bisque soup, po'boys, raw Louisiana Oysters with cocktail and horseradish sauces and French Quarter favorites. Over the past month, it's maintained a mixed 3.5-star rating among Yelpers.
Two Chicks Café
Central Business District's Two Chicks Café is the city's buzziest breakfast and brunch spot by the numbers.
The breakfast and brunch and traditional American spot, which offers juice and smoothies and more and opened at 920 Gravier St. in 2015, increased its new review count by 11.6 percent over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 2.6 percent for the Yelp category "Breakfast & Brunch."
It's not the only trending outlier in the breakfast and brunch category: Toast has seen an 8.3 percent increase in reviews.
Two Chicks Café's menu highlights include the crab cake benedict served on a croissant with a creamy Hollandaise sauce; farmhouse omelet with turkey and smoked gouda; Papa's French toast (the bread is made with a rum, vanilla and cinnamon spiced batter); savory and sweet crêpes; and barbecue shrimp and grits.
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.
