Curious where New York City's 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 analyze which eateries have been seeing especially high review volumes this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at New York City 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 sizzling hot, right now.
Osteria Delbianco
Open since January, this spot is trending, compared to other businesses categorized as "Italian" on Yelp.
Citywide, Italian spots saw a median 1.3% increase in new reviews over the past month. Osteria Delbianco only recently appeared on Yelp, but while many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, it has seen strong initial popularity.
For more on who's behind the business, we found this on Yelp: "The kitchen at Osteria Delbianco is headed by talented chef Diego Bigucci. Chef Diego completed culinary school in his native region of Emilia-Romagna, where he then went on to train in top restaurants in Paris before establishing himself in New York City. He credits his nonna, Maria Del Bianco, the restaurant’s namesake, for instilling a passion in him for authentic and traditional Northern Italian cuisine."
Located at 22 E. 49th St. (between Fifth and Madison avenues) in Midtown, Osteria Delbianco serves up a menu of authentic Italian favorites. Stop in for antipasti like beef carpaccio and fritto misto; pasta dishes with pasta made fresh daily in house; and meat and seafood entrees like grilled calamari, veal scaloppine and pork chops. The restaurant also offers a full bar.
Osteria Delbianco is open from noon–11 p.m. on weekdays, 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m. on Saturday and 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m. on Sunday.
Money Cat
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Bushwick's Money Cat, the Vietnamese spot is a hot topic, according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Vietnamese" on Yelp saw a median 1.8% increase in new reviews over the past month, Money Cat appeared on Yelp relatively recently. Many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, but it has seen a surge of interest.
Open at 554 Wilson Ave. (at the corner of Eldert Street) since mid-February, the restaurant offers refined traditional Vietnamese fare, such as spring rolls with vegan fish sauce, bun noodle bowls with lemongrass tofu, banh mi sandwiches with sous-vide smoked brisket, and its special pho soup with brisket and rare beef.
Money Cat is open from 11 a.m.–11 p.m. daily.
The Restaurant
Hell's Kitchen's The Restaurant is also making waves. Open since February at 506 Ninth Ave. (between 38th and 39th streets), this New American bar and restaurant is relatively new to Yelp, but has seen a surge of new reviews, while all businesses tagged "American (New)" on Yelp saw an increase of 1.3% for new reviews in the past month.
Here's more about the business, from its Yelp page: "The Restaurant is a young and fresh take on American cuisine, highlighting the quality ingredients we have right here in our surrounding farms. We take the best ingredients the Northeast has to offer and apply international techniques learned in New York City's finest kitchens. This is a seasonal, ingredient-driven restaurant focused on elegant simplicity."
There's more than one hot spot trending in New York City's New American category: The Dandy Lion Cafe has seen a 100% increase in reviews.
The Restaurant serves a menu of elevated small and large plates inspired by American classics, such as mac and cheese with thyme and toasted breadcrumbs, meatloaf with au poivre gravy, and roasted chicken and dumplings for two. Over the past month, it's maintained an outstanding five-star rating among Yelpers.
The Restaurant is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week.
Grey Cafe
Flushing's Grey Cafe is the city's buzziest sandwich spot by the numbers.
Grey Cafe, which took over the former Browny Coffee Roasters space at 195-19 Northern Blvd. in January, is still relatively new to Yelp, but has seen a surge of new reviews. Meanwhile, the median new review count for the Yelp category "Sandwiches" was up 1.8% over the past month.
In addition to classic coffee and tea drinks, this spacious shop offers cafe bites like açaí bowls and sandwiches made on bagels and croissants.
Grey Cafe is open from 7 a.m.–9 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 8 a.m.–9 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.
