Unsure where Los Angeles's insiders are 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 and SafeGraph, a dataset of commercial points of interest and their visitor patterns, to analyze which eateries 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 getting plenty of attention this spring.
The Rustic Spoon
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Valley Village's The Rustic Spoon, the breakfast and brunch spot, which offers salads and more, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp saw a median 1.1% increase in new reviews over the past month, The Rustic Spoon appeared on Yelp relatively recently. Many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, but it has seen a surge of interest.
Open at 12500 W. Magnolia Blvd. since February 2020, The Rustic Spoon offers omelets, eggs Benedict, pancakes, waffles and French toast. Check out the full breakfast menu here.
The Rustic Spoon is open from 8 a.m.–3 p.m. and 5–9 p.m. daily.
Hermanito
Sawtelle's Hermanito is also making waves. Open since February 2020 at 2024 Sawtelle Blvd., the beer and cocktail bar, which offers tacos and more, is relatively new to Yelp, but has seen a surge of new reviews, while all businesses tagged "Tacos" on Yelp saw an increase of 3.4% for new reviews in the past month. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Hermanito's review count increased by more than 290%.
Hermanito's taco menu features options including chicken, shrimp, steak and avocado. View the menu here. Over the past month, it's maintained a superior 4.5-star rating among Yelpers.
Hermanito is open from 5 p.m.–midnight on Tuesday-Saturday and 5–10 p.m. on Sunday. (It's closed on Monday.)
Tinder's Pizza
Reseda's Tinder's Pizza is the city's buzziest pizza spot by the numbers.
The popular pizza spot, which has been open at 7550 Tampa Ave., Unit G since January 2018, increased its new review count by 17.9% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.3% for the Yelp category "Pizza." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 8.5 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
"The foundation of a great-tasting pizza starts with the dough," according to its Yelp page. "We believe that pizza dough should always be hand-tossed and never pressed. We believe in always using the best quality meats and cheeses."
Tinder's Pizza serves signature pizza combinations such as spicy Hawaiian pizza, with bacon, ham, pineapple and jalapeno; barbecue chicken pizza, with barbecue sauce, onions, bell pepper and chicken; and Indian-style chicken pizza, with Indian cheese, serrano chili and chicken.
Tinder's Pizza is open from 11 a.m.–9 p.m. on Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11 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.
