Wondering where Los Angeles' 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 in the limelight this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at Los Angeles 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 increased their volume of reviews to identify statistically significant outliers compared to past performance.
Read on to see which spots are worth exploring, right now.
Emilia
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Beverly Grove's Emilia, the wine bar and Italian spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Italian" on Yelp saw a median 1.3% increase in new reviews over the past month, Emilia bagged a noteworthy 433.3% increase in new reviews within that time frame, with a slight upward trend from a 4.5-star rating a month ago to its current five stars.
There's more that's trending on Los Angeles' Italian scene: Fresco Italia has seen a 200% increase in reviews.
Open at 8500 Burton Way since July 2019, Emilia offers homemade prosciutto tortellini, handmade tagliatelle with beef and pork Bolognese ragu and homemade ricotta and spinach ravioli. See what else is on the menu.
Emilia is open from 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.–10 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m.–3 p.m. and 5 p.m.–10 p.m. on weekends.
Joey
Downtown Los Angeles' JOEY is also making waves. Open since July 2019 at 700 W. Seventh St., Suite S430, the New American spot has seen a substantial 402% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.3% for all businesses tagged "American (New)" on Yelp.
There's more than one hot spot trending in Los Angeles' New American category: Firebirds has seen a 315.4% increase in reviews.
JOEY features Korean fried cauliflower, steak and lobster ravioli, sake-glazed Chilean sea bass and chargrilled chicken marsala. View the full menu here. Over the past month, it's maintained a convincing 4.5-star rating among Yelpers.
JOEY is open from 11 a.m.–1 a.m. on Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m.–midnight on Sunday.
Pizzaoki
Studio City's Pizzaoki is the city's buzziest pizza spot by the numbers.
The pizza spot, which has been open at 11288 Ventura Blvd. since June 2019, increased its new review count by a noteworthy 250% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.7% for the Yelp category "Pizza." It outperformed the previous month by gaining five times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
It's not the only trending outlier in the pizza category: Pizza Night has seen a 154.5% increase in reviews.
Pizzaoki's menu includes a variety of pizzas, including cheese, pepperoni, Hawaiian and veggie.
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.
