Trend alert: What's heating up Houston's food scene this month

Want the inside word on Houston's buzziest local spots?

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 eateries have been in the limelight this month.

To find out who made the list, we first looked at Houston 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.

Bamboo House

Open since December, this Sichuan spot, which offers seafood, noodles and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Seafood" on Yelp.

Citywide, seafood spots saw a median 1.6% increase in new reviews over the past month. Bamboo House only recently appeared on Yelp, but while many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, it has seen strong initial popularity.

 "This is the second location for Bamboo House, with our original location being in Humble, Texas," according to its Yelp page. " We are known for our Peking duck."

Located at 5901 Westheimer Road, Suite N, in Mid West, Bamboo House offers fried rice and noodle dishes, along with pork, chicken, beef and seafood entrees. In addition to the Peking duck, popular menu items include pockmarked granny bean curd and the kung pao chicken.

Bamboo House is open from 11 a.m.–10 p.m. daily.

Guard and Grace

Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about downtown Houston's Guard and Grace, the steakhouse and New American spot, which offers seafood and more, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.

While businesses categorized as "Steakhouses" on Yelp saw a median 1.6% increase in new reviews over the past month, Guard and Grace appeared on Yelp relatively recently. Many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, but it has seen a surge of interest.

This is the second location for Guard and Grace, which has a flagship restaurant in Denver. Open at 500 Dallas St. since November, Guard and Grace offers a raw bar with sushi, oysters and a seafood tower. On the dinner menu, look for cheese boards, steak, lamb, seafood and Millionaire Fajitas. (Check out the full menu here.)

Guard and Grace is open from 11 a.m.–3 p.m. and 5–10 p.m. on Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. and 5–11 p.m. on Friday and 5–11 p.m. on Saturday. (It's closed on Sunday.)

Merus Grill

Greater Uptown's Merus Grill is also making waves. Open since November at 1180-1 Uptown Park Blvd., the traditional American spot is relatively new to Yelp, but has seen a surge of new reviews, while all businesses tagged "American (Traditional)" on Yelp saw an increase of 2% for new reviews in the past month.

There's more than one hot spot trending in Houston's traditional American category: Eggcellence Cafe & Bakery has seen an 85% increase in reviews.

Merus Grill offers salads, burgers, steak and seafood. House favorites from the menu include pan-roasted Norwegian salmon (finished with white wine butter sauce, pommes purée and lemon and reggiano broccoli) and barbecue baby back ribs slow-cooked with plum creek barbecue sauce. Over the past month, it's seen its Yelp rating tick down from five stars to 4.5 stars.

Merus Grill is open from 11 a.m.–10 p.m. on Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.–11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m.–9 p.m. on Sunday.

Truck Yard

Downtown Houston's Truck Yard is the city's buzziest bar by the numbers.

The well-established food stand and bar, which offers cheesesteaks and more and opened at 2118 Lamar St., Suite 150, in 2018, increased its new review count by 2% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.8% for the Yelp category "Bars." According to SafeGraph foot traffic data, Truck Yard saw visits more than triple over the past month.

This dog-friendly outdoor spot has two other locations in Texas. Truck Yard offers a rotating lineup of food trucks on site but the daily menu includes cheesesteaks along with beers and cocktails from the bar. The venue has live music when the weather cooperates and a karaoke room that can be rented by the hour.  

Truck Yard is open from 11 a.m.–2 a.m. daily. According to SafeGraph, people visit Truck Yard most on Saturdays and Fridays, and it attracts a quarter of its total visitors over those two days, so go on Tuesdays if you want to avoid the rush.

Pinstripes

Greenway's Pinstripes is currently on the upswing in the New American category on Yelp.

While businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp saw a median 1.5% increase in new reviews over the past month, this venues and event space and New American and bowling spot increased its new reviews by 80% — with its Yelp rating declining slightly from 4.5 stars to four stars.

Regarding specialties, the business's Yelp page touts "Italian-American fare, bowling and bocce, a ballroom and private event space, indoor and outdoor seating and a bar."

There's more abuzz in the world of Houston New American: Traveler's Table has seen a 59.7% increase in reviews.

Open for business at 3300 Kirby Drive, Suite 3A, since October, Pinstripes offers pasta, woodfired pizza and flatbread, sandwiches and salads.  Entree options include maple-glazed salmon and baby back ribs. (Find the entire menu here.)

Pinstripes is open from 11 a.m.–11 p.m. on Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.–midnight on Friday, midnight–1 a.m. and 10 a.m.–midnight on Saturday and midnight–1 a.m. and 10 a.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.