And down go eight more: After a series of vicious face-offs in the closing hours of the Sweet 16, eight Beijing restaurants have survived to make it into the next round – send them through to the Final Four by voting here now:

In the two closest contests of the match, Blue Frog narrowly avoided defeat at the hands of Tim’s Texas Bar-B-Q, and The Local squeezed by Courtyard 4 neighbor Q Mex by a mere handful of votes. Top seeds reigned in most other matches, with seven of eight of the top two seeds in each division making it to the next round.

The underdog The Garage, which made it farther than expected for a 12th-seeded venue, was knocked out by Great Leap Brewing.

Eight of Beijing’s best burgers remain in competition from the original 64, and now the choices get really tough, given what remains is 80 percent of Beijing’s Top 10 burgers.

Can Let’s Burger knock off perennial champion Home Plate? Can The Local fend off the behemoth that is Blue Frog? Can Union shoot past Slow Boat? And will The Big Smoke hold out over Great Leap? No matter how you slice it, these matches are tough to call:

Bracket A
Home Plate BBQ (#1) vs Let’s Burger (#2) 

Bracket B
Blue Frog (#1) vs The Local (#2) 

Bracket C
Slow Boat Brewery (#1) vs Union Bar and Grille (#3)

Bracket D
Great Leap Brewing (#1) vs The Big Smoke (#2) 

Keep your favorite burger place’s winning streak alive by casting your ballot in the Elite Eight here now: thebeijinger.com/2015burgercup – you have until Thursday (Sep 10) at noon to vote in this round.

A summary of all of last round’s blow-by-blow action can be found here.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on September 6, 2015.

First blood has been drawn in the 2015 Burger Cup as the first round of voting closed this afternoon, knocking 32 out of contention and leaving 32 to fight on another day. 

Keep your favorite burger place’s winning streak alive by casting your ballot in the Round of 32 here now: http://www.thebeijinger.com/2015Burgercup

All four top seeds in each bracket made it through the first round, while upsets ruled the day in other matches.  

Several places making their debut this year rode the buzz created by their appearance at the Burger Cup launch party to upset higher-ranked competitors.

In Bracket C, 11th seeded Loft Eatalicious, known more for its Italian fare, nevertheless floated by No. 6 The Irish Volunteer, after impressing at the launch party.

In the same bracket, Burger Cup newcomer Yuppie and Yummy (#10) narrowly outpaced the 7th-ranked Windy City on buzz created by The Yupster’s launch party appearance.

In Bracket D, 10th-ranked Paulaner Maximilian, whose variety at the launch party was sampled by many a party-goer, outlasted Paddy O’Shea’s (#7).

Two other newcomers managed to upset higher-ranked competitors by way of disqualification: Fly Pizza (#11) defeated Migas (#6) and Groovy Schiller’s (#11) ousted Kro’s Nest (#6) as both Migas and Kro have stopped serving burgers.

It was a bad year for 8th seeds, all four of whom were knocked out by 9th seeds in their respective brackets.

The one other unexpected upset was from 12th seeded The Garage, which triumphed over Morton’s of Chicago (#5).

Competition in the Round of 32 gets more intense, and contains two newcomers in epic battles: Kenny’s Burgers and Jing-A both take on No. 1 seeds in this round of their respective brackets.

Can Kenny’s knock off Blue Frog? Can Jing-A overtake 2014 Final Four finalist Great Leap Brewing? You tell us in this round of voting, which is open till Thursday.

In the mean time, take a gander at how the full bracket is progressing below (click for a larger version):

Below you’ll find the full results from the First Round:

Bracket A
Home Plate (1) sliced up The Cut (16)
Village Café (9) sent Grandma’s Kitchen (8) into retirement
Flamme (5) broiled Grinders (12)
Lush (4) fought off a serious challenge from Bistrot B (13)
Groovy Schillers (11) flew by Kro’s Nest (6)*
Lily’s (3) left Eudora Station (14) on the platform
1F (7) slam-dunked Laker’s (10)
Let’s Burger (2) flipped Waspark (15)

Bracket B
Blue Frog (1) croaked Park Side (16)
Kenny’s Burgers (9) blew by Beer Mania (8)
Tim’s Texas Bar-B-Q (5) outlasted Burger Me (12)
Temple Bar (4) sent Peter’s Tex-Mex (13) south of the border
Q Mex (3) outdistanced Pinotage (14)
Fly Pizza (11) soared on by Migas (6)*
Café Flatwhite (7) eked by Ramo (10)
The Local (2) slammed The Bookworm (15) shut

Bracket C
Slow Boat (1) cruised past The Smokeyard (16)
Nola (9) sent The Den (8) into hibernation
4corners (5) bolted past Jamaica Blue (12)
Stuff’d (4) 404’d Domain (13)
Union (3) busted Rumi (14)
Loft Eatalicious (11) floated by The Irish Volunteer (6)
Yuppie & Yummy (10) blew by Windy City (7)
Plan B (2) skied Twilight (15)

Bracket D
Great Leap (1) corralled Hungry Horse (16)
Jing-A (9) chomped on Biteapitta (8)
The Garage (12) sneaked by Morton’s of Chicago (5)
Luga’s Villa (4) outdistanced Frank’s Place (13)
Frost (3) narrowly froze out The Filling Station (14)
Katchup (6) squeezed out Sunbake and Brew (11)
Paulaner Maximilian (10) whacked Paddy O’Shea’s (7)
The Big Smoke (2) pedaled past The Old Bike Café (15)

As is our habit, we also asked you to rank the competitors that did not make it into the bracket of 64 this year, to serve as initial seedings for next year. Due to the two disqualifications, our list begins at #63:

63. Burger Break
64. Helen’s Café
65. Park Square
66. Burger Counter
67. XL Bar
68. Angry Burger
69. Craft, Crowne Plaza Lido
70. Pebbles Courtyard
71. Food Studio, Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing Hotel
72. The Corner
73. One East
74. The Kitchen Table, W Beijing Chang’an
75. The Golden Era 50’s Diner
76. Nasca Café
77. Uncle Sam’s
78. Must Guette
79. Little Britain
80. Steak Exchange, InterContinental Hotel
81. Fuel, Langham Place
82. MRL
83. Pentalounge, Penta Hotel

* these two matches were decided by disqualification as both Migas and Kro’s Nest have removed burgers from their menus.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on August 30, 2015

Two of our esteemed field of 64 have been disqualified from competition in the early rounds of the 2015 Burger Cup due to the removal of burgers from their menus.

Our reader-driven pre-seeding of the top 64 included Kro’s Nest, which long had sliders and a cheeseburger on their menu. However, we reconfirmed with them over the phone this week that they have removed these items from the menu (though they do promise a triumphant return of their cheeseburger pizza some time soon).

Meanwhile, readers ranked Migas quite high in the field no doubt to its reputation for fine food, fine drink and fine fun, but it came to our attention just yesterday they removed the burger from their menu quite some time ago. Whoops on us for not reconfirming before the bracket was released.

Therefore in the spirit of competition, both Migas and Kro’s Nest have been removed from this year’s competition.

Meanwhile, voting remains open until Sunday at noon in the Round of 64 over at www.thebeijinger.com/2015Burgercup. More than half the remaining battles are neck-and-neck, with virtual ties in six of the head-to-head competitions.

If you haven’t yet shown support for your favorite venues, vote now to send them on to the next round.

If you’re hankering for a new burger to try, go out there and try any one of the 62 remaining venues; if you need some hints on what to try, check out our ever-evolving Burger Briefing series; here’s who we have profiled so far:

Blue Frog
Cafe Flatwhite
Frost Coffee, Cocktails and Dining
Groovy Schiller’s
Home Plate BBQ
Lily’s American Diner
Loft Eatalicious
Luga’s Villa
Paulaner Maximillian
Slow Boat Brewery
Stuff’d
Sunbake & Brew
Yuppie & Yummy

Remember, you’ll need to help your favorites survive each round by returning to vote; here’s the schedule of voting:

The current round closes at noon, Sun, Aug 30.

Round of 32: Opens at 4pm, Sun, Aug 30; Closes at noon, Thu, Sep 3.

Sweet 16: Opens at 4pm, Thu, Sep 3; Closes at noon, Mon, Sep 7.

Elite Eight: Opens at 4pm, Mon, Sep 7; Closes at noon, Thu, Sep 10.

Final Four: Opens at 4pm, Thu, Sep 10; Closes at noon, Mon, Sep 14.

Finals: Opens at 4pm, Mon, Sep 14; Closes at noon, Wed, Sep 16.

The grand champion and final seedings of the 2015 Burger Cup will be announced shortly afterward

In the mean time, take a gander at the seedings and matchups, download yourself a full bracket by clicking on the graphic below:

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on August 26, 2015

Reigning champion Home Plate BBQ along with other top seeds Slow Boat, Great Leap and Blue Frog are hoping their legions of fans propel them through the first round as voting opens in this year’s 64-contestant Burger Cup.

Race right over to the voting page at www.thebeijinger.com/2015Burgercup to cast your ballot before the first round ends August 30.

Burger-slinging venues citywide are competing once again for the title of Beijing’s best burger.

Contestants in this year’s contest were chosen from over 100 Beijing burger-serving venues. Using last year’s final rankings as well as a consumer panel of 100 to integrate new competitors, each contestant was pre-ranked and inserted into our single-elimination bracket.

The bracket, a standard seeded bracket used in competitions such as the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, is designed to separate the stronger competitors from meeting in early rounds and eliminating each other before the action gets hot.

This year’s competition features a lot of familiar faces as well as 17 venues that were not in competition last year. Newcomers Jing-A, Kenny’s Burgers, Ramo, Paulaner Maximillian, Yuppie & Yummy, Sanbake & Brew, Bistrot B, and The Smokeyard are new to Beijing over the last 12 months; meanwhile, four existing venues that didn’t make the cut last year make their debut in 2015: Groovy Schiller’s, Loft Eatalicious, Fly Pizza, and Shunyi’s Hungry Horse.

Jing-A and Kenny’s Burgers have the honor of being the highest-seeded newcomers, each #9 in their respective brackets. Both face tough battles in the first round, with Jing-A facing 8-seeded Biteapitta and Kenny’s facing off vs 8-seed Beer Mania.

For those lamenting the lack of international chains such as Burger King and Fatburger, it would help for us to explain our methodology: In order to give the glory to the venues that make Beijing unique, we’ve intentionally left off major international chains; the exceptions to the rule are homegrown China-based chains (such as Blue Frog and Kro’s Nest) and international chains that have only a single outlet in Beijing (such as Morton’s).

To show your support for your favorite venues, vote now to send them to the next round. Remember, you’ll need to help them survive each round by returning to vote; here’s the schedule of voting:

Round of 64: Open now; Closes at noon, Sun, Aug 30.

Round of 32: Opens at 4pm, Sun, Aug 30; Closes at noon, Thu, Sep 3.

Sweet 16: Opens at 4pm, Thu, Sep 3; Closes at noon, Mon, Sep 7.

Elite Eight: Opens at 4pm, Mon, Sep 7; Closes at noon, Thu, Sep 10.

Final Four: Opens at 4pm, Thu, Sep 10; Closes at noon, Mon, Sep 14.

Finals: Opens at 4pm, Mon, Sep 14; Closes at noon, Wed, Sep 16.

The grand champion and final seedings of the 2015 Burger Cup will be announced shortly afterward

In the mean time, take a gander at the seedings and matchups, download yourself a full bracket by clicking on the graphic below:

The official 2015 Pre-Tournament Seedings:

Bracket A
1. Home Plate BBQ
2. Let’s Burger
3. Lily’s American Diner
4. Lush
5. Flamme
6. The Kro’s Nest
7. 1F
8. Grandma’s Kitchen
9. Village Cafe, Opposite House
10. Laker’s
11. Groovy Schiller’s
12. Grinders
13. Bistrot B (New Since Last Year)
14. Eudora Station
15. Waspark
16. The Cut, Fairmont Beijing

Bracket B
1. Blue Frog
2. The Local
3. Q Mex
4. Temple Bar
5. Tim’s Texas Bar-B-Q
6. Migas
7. Cafe Flatwhite
8. Beer Mania
9. Kenny’s Burgers (New Since Last Year)
10. Ramo (New Since Last Year)
11. Fly Pizza (Unranked in 2014)
12. Burger Me
13. Peter’s Tex-Mex
14. Pinotage
15. The Bookworm
16. Park Side Bar & Grill

Bracket C
1. Slow Boat Brewery
2. Plan B
3. Union Bar and Grille
4. Stuff’d
5. 4corners
6. The Irish Volunteer
7. Windy City
8. The Den
9. Nola
10. Yuppie & Yummy (New Since Last Year)
11. Loft Eatalicious (Unranked in 2014)
12. Jamaica Blue
13. Domain, East Hotel
14. Rumi
15. Twilight
16. The Smokeyard (New Since Last Year)

Bracket D
1. Great Leap Brewing
2. The Big Smoke
3. Frost Coffee, Cocktails and Dining
4. Luga’s Villa
5. Morton’s of Chicago
6. Katchup
7. Paddy O’Shea’s
8. Biteapitta
9. Jing-A (New Since Last Year)
10. Paulaner Maximillian, Hotel Maximillian Beijing (New Since Last Year)
11. Sanbake & Brew, V-Continent Beijing Parkview Wuzhou Hotel (New Since Last Year)
12. The Garage
13. Frank’s Place
14. The Filling Station
15. The Old Bike Cafe
16. Hungry Horse (Unranked in 2014)

For an in-depth look at some of this year’s contenders, keep an eye out for our ongoing Burger Brief blog series. Catch pictures from this year’s Burger Cup Launch Party here.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on August 23, 2015

Photo: Uni