As fans of cronuts and cake pops can attest, food trends come and go. So how can you tell which tastes are trending today?
We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp and SafeGraph, a dataset of commercial points of interest and their visitor patterns, to analyze which local businesses have been getting extra attention this month.
To find out who made the list, we first looked at Seattle 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. Then we analyzed foot traffic data from SafeGraph to validate the trends.
Read on to see which spots are extra cool, right now.
Carrello
Open since October, this Italian spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Italian" on Yelp.
Citywide, Italian spots saw a median 1.2% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Carrello saw a significant 200% increase, with a slight downward trend from a 4.5-star rating a month ago to four stars today.
It's not the only trending outlier in the Italian category: Cortina has seen a 7.9% increase in reviews, and Staple & Fancy has seen a 0.7% bump.
Located at 622 Broadway East (between Mercer and Roy streets) in Capitol Hill, Carrello offers Italian dishes like spaghetti, gnocchi, roasted chicken, ravioli, wine and more.
Carrello is open from 5 p.m.–10 p.m. on Tuesday-Saturday. (It's closed on Monday and Sunday.)
Aerlume
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Pike Market's Aerlume, the New American spot, which offers desserts and salads, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp saw a median 1.2% increase in new reviews over the past month, Aerlume bagged a 19.4% increase in new reviews within that time frame, maintaining a solid four-star rating. It significantly outperformed the previous month by gaining 2.6 times more reviews than expected based on its past performance.
Open at 2003 Western Ave., Suite C (between Pike Place and Virginia Street) since December 2018, Aerlume offers crab cakes, jumbo sea scallops, black cod, salmon and more on the menu.
Aerlume is open from 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m. daily.
Ghost Note Coffee
Capitol Hill's Ghost Note Coffee is also making waves. Open since February 2017 at 1623 Bellevue Ave. (between Olive and Pine streets), the well-established coffee and tea spot has seen a 5% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 2.1% for all businesses tagged "Coffee & Tea" on Yelp. According to SafeGraph foot traffic data, Ghost Note Coffee saw visits almost double over the past month.
There's more than one hot spot trending in Seattle's coffee and tea category: Pearls Tea & Cafe has seen a 2.1% increase in reviews.
Ghost Note Coffee offers espresso drinks, brewed coffee, tea and signature drinks like London Smog, espresso soda and spiced cider. Over the past month, it's maintained a sound 4.5-star rating among Yelpers.
Ghost Note Coffee is open from 7 a.m.–5 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m.–6 p.m. on weekends. According to SafeGraph, it's usually busiest at 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and people visit Ghost Note Coffee most on Fridays and Sundays, with a slowdown on Thursdays.
Bangrak Market
Belltown's Bangrak Market is the city's buzziest bar by the numbers.
The well-established bar and Thai spot, which offers tapas and more and opened at 2319 Second Ave. (between Battery and State Route 99 streets) in April increased its new review count by 7% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.3% for the Yelp category "Bars."
Bangrak Market offers Thai street food like grilled pork sausage, marinated chicken skewers, corn fritters with Thai curry paste, pan fried noodles and more.
Bangrak Market is open from 11 a.m.–3 p.m. and 4 p.m.–midnight on Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. and 4 p.m.–2 a.m. on Friday, noon–2 a.m. on Saturday and noon–11 p.m. on Sunday.
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.
