Friends of Jonathan Sokoloff are seeking donations for a charity auction for tomorrow afternoon’s fundraiser at Home Plate Bar-B-Que with benefits going toward the care of Sokoloff and his family.

Event organizers Morgan McKinnon and Ashley Heath are organizing the donations, and they’ve already received a massive pledge of support.

So far contributors include:

Home Plate Bar-B-Que (2 free drink tickets and a bottle of Fireball)

CrossFit86 (6 foundation classes)

El Gran Bocado (RMB 2000 voucher)

Sand & Pebbles (RMB 2000 voucher)

the Beijinger (Elements Club drink vouchers)

the Beijinger (Black Golden Tanning vouchers)

Sino Scuba (Blue Zoo Beijing diving experience)

Andy’s Sausages
(RMB 300 voucher)

Slow Boat Brewery
(RMB 300 voucher)

Fight Republic Gym
(one-month membership)

Yin’s Roof Top (Champagne)

Plan B (keg of beer)

Yin Bar (free drinks)

Beijing Playhouse (show tickets)

beijingkids (nail salon vouchers)

Sokoloff currently remains on life support in an international department of a local hospital with low brain activity. The 32 year-old international school teacher from Florida was involved in a scooter accident this past weekend in the early hours of Saturday morning near his home in Shunyi. According to McKinnon, Jonathan’s sister will arrive in Beijing tomorrow to stay with him during this time.

Friends of Sokoloff have also organized an indiegogo crowd funding page where donations can be made on his behalf. Funds raised on both the crowd funding page and at tomorrow’s event will go toward Jonathan’s care as needed as well as to the ongoing medical expenses of his mother, whom Sokoloff has been helping support on his teaching salary.

The fundraiser will be held tomorrow, May 1 at Home Plate Bar-B-Que (Sanlitun) from 11:30am-2:30pm. Donations boxes will also be available tomorrow at the event for those who would like to contribute. Those looking to donate can contact McKinnon at 131 4663 3913.

Home Plate Bar-B-Que has been once again crowned champion of Beijing’s burger circuit, walking away with the Burger Cup for a third consecutive year since taking the title from 2011 winner Blue Frog.

Home Plate survived a challenge in the final head-to-head match from upstart Slow Boat Brewery, whose burgers did not even make the Round of 64 in 2013 but has shown some real mettle on the back of their innovatively gluttonous Fryburger, a burger stuffed with beer-battered French fries.

It’s been a long ride for Home Plate, which once again made its way into the finals via hard-fought victories over bracketmates Domain (#16), Burgers & Beer (#9), Temple Bar (#4) and Union Bar and Grille (#3), before going on to meet and defeat Bracket A’s top seed Great Leap Brewing and then besting Slow Boat.

Home Plate fans consistently praised the juiciness of their burgers as well as the value and the atmosphere of its two locations, the original behind the Hilton Hotel and its more recent venue in Sanlitun.

In the Third Place Match, Great Leap bounded by The Big Smoke to take slot #3 on the strength of its burgers, craft beer and atmosphere.

And with this, we now have our conclusionary rankings in the 2014 Cup, and you just may want to use the October 1 holiday to work off those extra pounds, as a full 68 percent of you reported eating more burgers than usual over the Burger Cup period, while 55 percent said you’ve consumed more beer.

As we wrap up, let’s take a look back at a tumultuous year in the rankings, with new entrants in the Top 10, others taking steep falls and a new fleet of contenders making the rankings.

Biggest Jumps: Stuff’d rose 24 spots, from #38 to #14; Temple Bar rose 23 spots to move from #36 to #13; The Cut jumped 14 spots to go from #44 to #30; The Big Smoke climbed 13 spots to make it to #4 from its previous perch at #17; Paddy O’Shea’s went from #31 to 19; 4corners jumped from #22 to 11; and Pentalounge moved up 8 spots from #55 to #47.

Welcome to the Jungle: Slow Boat tops the list of contestants that didn’t make the cut in last year’s tourney to place in this year’s, coming in at #2. Others that made their debut this year include #17 Katchup; #20 Burger Bar; #22 Q Mex; #23 Beer Mania; #25 Morton’s of Chicago; #27 Windy City; #28 The Irish Volunteer and #31 The Kro’s Nest.

Biggest Drops: It wasn’t a great cup for several venues who saw their rankings drop as competition heated up. Cafe Flatwhite dropped 33 slots from #16 last year to #49 this year; Chef Too plummeted 25 spaces to go from #12 to #37; Peter’s Tex-Mex dropped from #23 to #44; Grandma’s Kitchen went from #19 to 39; and The Bookworm went from #42 to barely making the grate at #62.

Farewell: After charting in 2013, #30 Burger Counter, #32 The Corner and #36 The James Joyce all fell out of the rankings entirely.

Here, in a brief chart, is our field of 64 for 2014 and how they did vs 2013:

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on September 28, 2014.

Photos: the Beijinger

Reigning champ Home Plate Bar-B-Que narrowly defeated a strong showing by Great Leap Brewing to enter the Championship of the Beijinger’s 2014 Burger Cup, where it will face off against Slow Boat Brewery, which moved past The Big Smoke on its way to the final match.

It’s been a grueling battle for both of the final match’s contestants. On their way through the field of 64 venues, Home Plate defeated Domain, Burgers & Beer, Temple Bar, Union Bar and Grille and finally Great Leap to make it to the penultimate match. Meanwhile, the previously unranked Slow Boat sailed past Lakers, The Irish Volunteer, Lily’s American Diner, Plan B, and The Big Smoke to reach the final.

Home Plate’s signature burger is the Double Cheese Burger. It’s chock full of Australian beef goodness and comes at the bargain price of RMB 55 (sides are extra). Served on a buttered, toasted sesame seed bun, Home Plate’s beast is topped with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and red onion and slathered with one of their home-made sauces: house-made mustard or one of the BBQ sauces that made them famous: Kansas, Memphis or Texas style.

Meanwhile, Slow Boat’s claim-to-fame is their Fryburger, which takes the perfect burger side dish – French Fries – and shoves them right in there between the two halves of the toasted bun. Served with a pickle for RMB 50, Slow Boat’s Australian ground beef patty is topped with American cheese and their signature aioli sauce, adding up to a mouth-watering combination.

The third-place match is another mouth-waterer, given the quality and appeal of the two contestants, Great Leap and The Big Smoke.

Great Leap defeated Main Street, Windy City, 4corners and The Local before being bumped off by Home Plate to earn their place in the consolation round. The Big Smoke defeated Eudora Station, The Kro’s Nest, Lush and blue frog before stalling in front of Slow Boat to enter the battle for #3.

Great Leap’s top selling burger, the Cheeseburger, is simple yet sophisticated, featuring fresh (never frozen) single-source Inner Mongolian beef which is butchered, prepared and ground in-house. It’s then topped with American cheese and house-made pickles and served with Mayo and GLB Fancy Sauce on a toasted Sesame Seed Bun.

On the other side stands The Big Smoke with their signature burger, the Portabella Blue Cheese Burger. This 100% beef burger is served on a sesame seed bun and is toppped with a deep fried portabella mushroom stuffed with blue cheese, lettuce and red onion and dressed with their spicy chipotle lime mayo. At RMB 68, it is served withthe Big Smoke’s signature truffle-oiled,hand-cut French Fries.

So there you have it: We’re down to the finals and you have until Saturday night to vote … that’s plenty of time for even you burger virgins to try each one of the top four before making up your mind.

Here’s our lineup card:

Championship: Home Plate vs Slow Boat
3rd Place Match: Great Leap vs The Big Smoke

Meanwhile, In the last round of voting we also asked you your favorite of several contenders for a dream burger combination. The overwhelming favorite was the Joybringer No. 1 created by voter Tijs Bulk of the Netherlands (who in fact hails from not too far from the birthplace of Gouda cheese). The Joybringer features a beef patty on a lightly toasted bun topped with Gouda cheese, lettuce, tomato, caramalized onions, bacon, mustard, mayonnaise and BBQ sauce. Voters reported they’d be willing to pay RMB 47 for such a combo … it remains to be seen if any of Beijing’s burgermeisters would like to put this combo on their menu.

Finally, we asked you to rank the four establishments that were knocked out in the previous round. Adding to our previously-ranked #9 and #10, the 2014 list of Top 10 Beijing Burgers is beginning to take shape.

5. The Local
6. Blue Frog
7. Plan B
8. Union Bar and Grille
9. Frost Coffee, Cocktails and Dining
10. Let’s Burger

This post first appeared thebeijinger.com on September 23, 2014

Photos: courtesy of Home Plate, Big Smoke, The Great Leap, Slow Boat & graphics by Susu Luo

We love invitations to events and we receive our share of ones that occasionally seem strange, but we were intrigued by the one we got from The Opposite House Tuesday afternoon.

"May The Force Be With You – The Opposite House Presents Star Wars International Day," reads the subject line. The Sanlitun Swire venue will hold two separate events on Saturday, May 3: one at Village Cafe from 4:30-6pm, to launch its new kids’ menu and provide photo opportunities with Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, and Rebels.

Star Wars Day is actually celebrated on May 4 ("May the Fourth" is a semi-pun supposed to sound like "May the Force"), but since our goofy holiday schedule mandates everyone back to work as punishment for having International Labor Day off, May 3 somehow makes more sense. This is actually the second year in a row The Opposite House is holding Skywalker-themed events.

Insert your Star Wars cliche here.

More straightforward, Home Plate Bar-B-Que is having a Kentucky Derby party on Saturday, the day of the race’s running, except it’s 12 hours before the actual event starts in the US. No matter, there will still be mint juleps and Kentucky Ale beers for RMB 30 each. And they’re off!

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on April 30, 2014 and has been slightly modified.

Photo courtesy of OnePlusInfinity via thebeijinger.com

For all you math nerds out there: Happy (Belated)Pi Day! It’s 3.14, which means it’s time to commemorate that sexy, irrational mathematical constant of π. Even if you don’t geek out on numbers, there’s still reason to celebrate: a) who doesn’t love an obscure holiday? b) Two Guys and a Pie are offering free toppings for pie ordered. The deal runs all weekend (pi is infinite, isn’t it?) from today through Sunday’s close at 11pm.

In the mood for more pie? Here are a few more of our top picks for a slice around town.

Pantry’s Best
Their new storefront on the third floor of Ritan High Life serves a dope slice of apple pie (RMB 24) among an assortment of other rotating sweets.
Sun-Thu 11am-8pm, Fri-Sat 11am-9pm. Unit 92-93, 3/F, Ritan High Life, 39 Shenglu Jie, Chaoyang District (4008-3-14159) 朝阳区神路街39号日坛上街3层92-93

Home Plate Bar-B-Que
For your Sanlitun or Northeast apple pie needs, look to Home Plate where a slice will run you RMB 40. Pro-tip: get a side of pulled pork and a rack of ribs while you’re there.
Sanyuanqiao: Daily 11am-10pm. 35 Xiaoyun Lu courtyard (from Dongsanhuan Beilu, head 20m north of Xiaoyun Lu intersection and take the first right), Chaoyang District (5128 5584) 朝阳区霄云路35号院（东三环北路,过霄云路路口,往北走20米,到第一个路口右转
Sanlitun: Daily 11am-midnight. Courtyard 4, Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District (4000 967 670) 朝阳区工体北路4号院

Frost
Chef Jeff Powell serves a mean slice of maple walnut pie (RMB 39), suffused with maple syrup and brown sugar. Also available at Back Alley Bistro.
Mon-Fri 7am-2am, Sat-Sun 11am-2am. 55 Xingfucun Zhonglu (in the alleyway across from April Gourmet), Chaoyang District (6417 5430) 朝阳区幸福村中路55

Stuff’d
The venue reimagined from The Vineleaf has kept its British roots with their steak and ale pie and their creamy chicken and mushroom pot pie, both RMB 78 each.
Wed-Mon 11.30am-2.45pm, 6-10pm. 9 Jianchang Hutong (close to Wudaoying Hutong), Dongcheng District (6407 6308) 东城区箭厂胡同9号（近五道营胡同）

This post appeared on thebeijinger on March 14 but was slightly modified from the original.

Photo courtesy Flickr user Dennis Wilkinson (djwtwo)