As fans of cronuts and cake pops can attest, food trends come and go. So how can you tell which tastes are trending at this very moment?
We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp to uncover which eateries have been most discussed this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at Philadelphia 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 getting plenty of attention this autumn.
Forsythia
Open since August 2019, this modern European, French and New American spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp.
Citywide, New American spots saw a median 1.3% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Forsythia saw an 80% increase, with a slight downward trend from a five-star rating a month ago to 4.5 stars today.
It's not the only trending outlier in the New American category: Jean-Georges Philadelphia has seen a 58.6% increase in reviews.
Located at 233 Chestnut St. in Old City, Forsythia offers dishes like pumpkin soup, roasted short rib and braised rabbit leg.
JG SkyHigh
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Logan Square's JG SkyHigh, the bar and New American spot, which offers seafood and more, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Bars" on Yelp saw a median 1.5% increase in new reviews over the past month, JG SkyHigh bagged a 56.5% increase in new reviews within that time frame, with a slight downward trend from a 4.5-star rating a month ago to its current four stars.
There's more that's trending on Philadelphia's bar scene: Giuseppe & Sons has seen a 6.5% increase in reviews.
Open at 1 N. 19th St., Floor 60 since 2019, JG SkyHigh offers bites like squash and tomato pizza, chipotle chicken tacos and crusted calamari.
Winkel
Washington Square's Winkel is also making waves. Open since 2019 at 1119 Locust St., the popular breakfast and brunch spot, which offers coffee and tea and salads, has seen a 21.7% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.6% for all businesses tagged "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp.
Winkel offers dishes like eggs Benedict, chicken and waffles and deep-fried strawberry French toast. Over the past month, it's maintained a convincing 4.5-star rating among Yelpers.
Winkel is open from 8 a.m.–3 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m.–3 p.m. on weekends.
Alpen Rose
Washington Square's Alpen Rose is the city's buzziest seafood spot by the numbers.
The popular steakhouse, which offers seafood and more and opened at 116 S. 13th St. since 2019, increased its new review count by 20.3% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.8% for the Yelp category "Seafood." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 1.5 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
It's not the only trending outlier in the seafood category: Relish has seen a 0.9% increase in reviews.
Alpen Rose offers octopus, roasted cauliflower steak and Ora King salmon.
Alpen Rose is open from 5 p.m.–10 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Sunday, 5 p.m.–11 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday and 5 p.m.–midnight on Friday and Saturday.
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.
