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It's All About Pizza, BBQ & Sliders For Denver Diners

(HOODLINE) - Curious where Denver'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 and SafeGraph, a dataset of commercial points of interest and their visitor patterns, to analyze which restaurants have been in the spotlight this month.

To find out who made the list, we first looked at Denver 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 outposts are riding a trend, right now.

Broadway Roxy

First established in 1978, this music venue and New American breakfast and brunch restaurant is trending, in comparison to other businesses categorized as "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp.

Citywide, breakfast and brunch eateries saw a median 1.3% increase in new reviews over the past month. Broadway Roxy 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 breakfast and brunch category: Postino Broadway has seen a 35.3% increase in reviews.

Located at 554 S. Broadway in Washington Park West, Broadway Roxy features an atmosphere reminiscent of the 1920s and frequent live music performances, as noted on its Yelp page. On the menu, look for plates such as pastrami sliders, truffle fries, a falafel burger, house-made ravioli, butternut squash soup, poutine and carnitas tacos.

Broadway Roxy is open from 5 p.m.–midnight on Tuesday and Thursday, 5 p.m.–1 a.m. on Wednesday, 5 p.m.–2 a.m. on Friday, 10 a.m.–2 a.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m.–10 p.m. on Sunday. (It's closed on Monday.)

Brooklyn's Finest Pizza

Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about downtown Denver's Central Business District's Brooklyn's Finest Pizza, the Italian diner, which offers pizza and sandwiches, is a hot topic, according to Yelp review data.

While businesses categorized as "Sandwiches" on Yelp saw a median 1.9% increase in new reviews over the past month, Brooklyn's Finest Pizza bagged a substantial 127.3% increase in new reviews within that time frame, maintaining a healthy four-star rating.

There's more that's trending on Denver's sandwich scene: Carne: Argentina Street Food has seen a 76.5% increase in reviews, and Mythology Distillery has seen a 17.2% bump.

Open at 825 16th St. Mall since 2019, Brooklyn's Finest Pizza specializes in Brooklyn-style pizzas, which are available by the pie or slice, and also serves menuitems like pasta, calzones, cheesy bread, garlic knots, chicken wings, strombolis, beer and wine.

Brooklyn's Finest Pizza is open from 10 a.m.–10 p.m. on Monday-Thursday and Sunday and 10 a.m.–11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

The Way Back

Berkeley's The Way Back is also making waves. Open since 2018 at 3963 Tennyson St., the bar and New American bistro has seen a 4.5% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.3% for all businesses tagged "Bars" on Yelp. According to SafeGraph foot traffic data, The Way Back saw visits more than double over the past month.

Per its Yelp profile, The Way Back offers a continually changing menu of diverse fare made from seasonal, organic, locally sourced ingredients. Noteworthy dishes to try include green pea fritters, kung pao chicken, sirloin steak with crispy shallots and ox tail pappardelle. Over the past month, it's maintained a healthy four-star rating among Yelpers.

The Way Back is open from 5–10 p.m. on Monday-Thursday and 5–11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. (It's closed on Sunday.) According to SafeGraph, foot traffic is heaviest at 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., and on Saturdays and Tuesdays, with a slowdown on Fridays.

Post Oak Barbecue

Berkeley's Post Oak Barbecue is the city's buzziest traditional American joint by the numbers.

The well-established traditional American smokehouse, which specializes in barbecue and opened at 4000 Tennyson St. in summer 2019, increased its new review count by 9.2% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.5% for the Yelp category "American (Traditional)." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 2.2 times more reviews than expected, based on past performance.

Post Oak Barbecue serves authentic Central Texas-style barbecue and hand-smoked meats, including St. Louis spare ribs, prime brisket, pork shoulder, turkey breast and house-made sausages.

Post Oak Barbecue is open from 11 a.m.–10 p.m. on Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.–11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m.–9 p.m. on Sunday. (It's closed on Monday.)

Article provided by Hoodline.

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