As fans of cronuts and cake pops can attest, food trends come and go. So how can you tell which tastes are trending right this minute?
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 deduce which restaurants have been on the tips of diners' tongues this month.
To find out who made the list, we first 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. Then we analyzed foot traffic data from SafeGraph to validate the trends.
Read on to see which spots are riding a trend, right now.
Soprano
Open since December 2019, this Italian spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Italian" on Yelp.
Citywide, Italian spots saw a median 1.1% increase in new reviews over the past month. Soprano only recently appeared on Yelp, but while many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, it has seen strong initial popularity.
Located at 6263 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, Soprano offers meatballs, chicken milanese, eggplant parmesan and rigatoni bolognese. View the menu here.
Soprano is open from 5–9 p.m. on Tuesday-Friday, 4–10 p.m. on Saturday and 3:15–9 p.m. on Sunday. (It's closed on Monday.)
Verse
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Toluca Lake's Verse, the supper club and traditional American spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "American (Traditional)" on Yelp saw a median 1.2% increase in new reviews over the past month, Verse appeared on Yelp relatively recently. Many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, but it has seen a surge of interest.
Open at 4212 Lankershim Blvd. since December 2019, Verse features dungeness crab cake, Maine lobster bolognese and marinated prime hanger steak. Check out the rest of the menu.
Verse is open from 6–11 p.m. on Thursday-Saturday. (It's closed on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday.)
Death & Co
Downtown Los Angeles's Death & Co is also making waves. Open since December 2019 at 818 E. Third St., the cocktail bar and lounge is relatively new to Yelp, but has seen a surge of new reviews, while all businesses tagged "Cocktail Bars" on Yelp saw an increase of 1.6% for new reviews in the past month.
Death & Co serves handcrafted cocktails like the Reef Break, with vodka, sherry, passionfruit and cinnamon, or the Tradewinds, with tequila, apple brandy, garam masala, apricot and lemon. Check out the full cocktail menu here. Over the past month, it's seen its Yelp rating tick down from five stars to 4.5 stars.
Death & Co is open from 6 p.m.–2 a.m. daily.
BonTea
Melrose's BonTea is the city's buzziest coffee and tea spot by the numbers.
The spot to score bubble tea, coffee and tea, which has been at 7275 Melrose Ave., Suite C since September 2019, is still relatively new to Yelp but has seen a surge of new reviews. Meanwhile, the median new review count for the Yelp category "Coffee & Tea" was up 2.1% over the past month.
"We have combined Middle East tea with American tea and created unique tea recipes for you," according to its Yelp page. "At Bontea, our customers will be able to find all kinds of high-quality and more importantly, organic tea choices. We make a huge difference in the market by combining two different cultures and bringing a new, unique taste for you."
BonTea features black mojito tea, hazelnut coconut latte and mango oolong tea. See what else is on the menu.
BonTea is open from 8:30 a.m.–8 p.m. on Monday, 9 a.m.–8 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 a.m.–9 p.m. on Thursday, 9:30 a.m.–9 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m.–9 p.m. on weekends.
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.
