As fans of cronuts and cake pops can attest, food trends come and go. So how can you tell which tastes are trending right now?
We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp to discover which restaurants have been seeing especially high review volumes this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at Denver businesses on Yelp by category and counted how many reviews each received. Rather than compare them based on the number of reviews alone, we calculated a percentage increase in reviews over the past month and tracked businesses that consistently increased their volume of reviews to identify statistically significant outliers compared to past performance.
Read on to see which spots are on a hot streak, right now.
Hank's Texas Barbecue
This New American greasy spoon, which specializes in barbecue fare, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp.
Citywide, New American restaurants saw a median 1.7% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Hank's Texas Barbecue saw an 18.2% increase, maintaining a convincing four-star rating throughout. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis, Hank's Texas Barbecue's review count increased by more than 120%.
It's not the only trending outlier in the New American category: Acova has seen an 8.8% increase in reviews, and Avelina has seen a 4.2% bump.
Located at 5410 E. Colfax Ave. in Northeast Denver, Hank's Texas Barbecue offers smoked meats by the pound, salads, tacos, sandwiches and more on its menu.
Classic Eats
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Classic Eats over on West Colfax, the deli, which offers breakfast and brunch, sandwiches and more, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp saw a median 2.6% increase in new reviews over the past month, Classic Eats bagged a 10.2% increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a solid 4.5-star rating. It significantly outperformed the previous month by gaining five times more reviews than expected based on its past performance.
Open at 3910 W. Colfax Ave. since 2016, Classic Eats serves a variety of soups, salads and sandwiches made from fresh ingredients, along with a list of breakfast sandwiches and breakfast burritos.
Russell's Smokehouse
Lodo's Russell's Smokehouse is also making waves. Open at 1422 Larimer St., the bar, smokehouse and traditional American bistro has seen a 3.6% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.8% for all businesses tagged "Bars" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis, Russell's Smokehouse's review count increased by more than 250%.
There's more than one hot spot trending in Denver's bar category: Corinne has seen a 5.7% increase in reviews.
Russell's Smokehouse is known for its cowboy-inspired cuisine, specializing in meats like beef brisket, pulled pork and cold-smoked salmon. Over the past month, it's maintained a mixed 3.5-star rating among Yelpers.
Safta
Five Points' Safta is the city's buzziest sandwich outlet by the numbers.
Established in 2018 and settled at 3330 Brighton Blvd., Suite 201 inside the Source Hotel, this popular Middle Eastern and Mediterranean eatery, which offers sandwiches and more, increased its new review count by 7.6% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 2% for the Yelp category "Sandwiches." It also maintained its stellar 4.5-star rating during this time period.
According to its Yelp page, Safta serves modern Israeli cuisine, featuring menu items such as harissa-roasted chicken, baba ganoush with charred scallions, pomegranate-braised lamb shank and crispy eggplant.
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.
