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 and SafeGraph, a dataset of commercial points of interest and their visitor patterns, to discover which local businesses have been getting extra notice 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 have the momentum heading into springtime.
Mount&bao
Open since January, this Chinese spot, which offers noodles and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Noodles" on Yelp.
Citywide, noodle spots saw a median 1.4% increase in new reviews over the past month. Mount&Bao only recently appeared on Yelp, but while many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, it has seen strong initial popularity.
It's not the only trending outlier in the noodle category: Dumpling The Noodle has seen a 76.5% increase in reviews, and Dough Zone Dumpling House and Momosan Ramen & Sake have seen 11.8 and 7.5% increases, respectively.
Located at 12534 Lake City Way NE (between North 31st Avenue and 127th Street) in Lake City, Mount&Bao offers spicy wontons, pork bao, hand-pulled noodles, dumplings, beef noodle soup and more.
Mount&Bao is open from 11 a.m.–11:45 p.m. daily.
Olmstead
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Capitol Hill's Olmstead, the cocktail bar and New American spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp saw a median 1% increase in new reviews over the past month, Olmstead bagged a 30.3% increase in new reviews within that time frame, maintaining a sound four-star rating.
There's more that's trending on Seattle's New American scene: Eight Row has seen a 14.5% increase in reviews, and Pair and Art of The Table have seen 0.9 and 0.3% increases, respectively.
Open at 314 Broadway East (between Thomas and Harrison streets) since December, Olmstead offers sloppy joe meatballs, poutine, chicken wings, crab deviled eggs and more.
Olmstead is open from 10 a.m.–1 a.m. on Monday, 9 a.m.–1 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday, 10 a.m.–2 a.m. on Thursday and Friday and 9 a.m.–2 a.m. on Saturday.
Honest Biscuits
Pike Market's Honest Biscuits is the city's buzziest breakfast and brunch spot by the numbers.
The popular bakery and Southern and breakfast and brunch spot, which opened at 1901 Western Ave., Suite E (between Pike Place and Virginia Street) in 2011, increased its new review count by 0.6% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1% for the Yelp category "Breakfast & Brunch." As for foot traffic, Honest Biscuits saw visits more than double over the past month, according to SafeGraph data.
It's not the only trending outlier in the breakfast and brunch category: 14 Carrot Cafe has seen a 1.4% increase in reviews, and Brother Joe and Magnuson Cafe & Brewery have seen 7.2 and 1.9% increases, respectively.
Honest Biscuits offers freshly baked biscuits and gravy, biscuit sandwiches and coffee, as well as gluten-free biscuits.
Honest Biscuits is open from 8 a.m.–5 p.m. daily. According to SafeGraph, people visit Honest Biscuits most on Saturdays and Wednesdays, and it attracts a quarter of its total visitors over those two days. If you’re planning your visit, you may want to try its slower periods on Mondays.
Jerk Shack
Belltown's well-established Jerk Shack is currently on the upswing in the seafood category on Yelp.
While businesses categorized as "Seafood" on Yelp saw a median 0.8% increase in new reviews over the past month, this cocktail bar and Caribbean spot, which offers seafood and more, increased its new reviews by 3.4% — and kept its rating consistent at four stars.
There's more abuzz in the world of Seattle seafood: Staple & Fancy has seen a 0.3% increase in reviews.
Open for business at 2510 First Ave. (between Wall and Vine streets) since 2017, Jerk Shack offers a slew of Caribbean fare, including jerk chicken, Cuban-spiced salmon, deep-fried soft-shell crab, lobster and grits, mango salad and more.
Jerk Shack is open from 4 p.m.–10 p.m. on Monday-Wednesday, 4 p.m.–midnight on Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. and 4 p.m.–midnight on Saturday and 9 a.m.–2 p.m. and 4 p.m.–10 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.
