Meet the Pizza Cup's Alternative Candidates!

With less than 48 hours to cast your ballot in the Pizza Cup’s penultimate round, we at the Beijinger felt it necessary to sidestep from our presidential pizza race, to shift your gaze on something a bit more unorthodox – the Gary Johnsons and Jill Steins, if you will, of our Pizza Cup.

These innovative pizza-infused creations range from pot stickers to hamburgers and despite being ineligible to compete against the likes of Gung Ho! and Annie's; they’ve garnered enough attention for us to create an entirely separate Pizza Cup category: a contest for Beijing’s best pizza spinoff!

Let’s meet the candidates:

North Capital’s Pizza Dumplings

Greasy, but downright DIH-LISH-UHS, North Capital’s fried pizza dumplings, six for RMB 30, are made using cheddar and mozzarella cheese, Italian sausage, pepperoni, and mushrooms.

Tiago Home Kitchen's Marshmallow Pizza

Arguably one of the capital’s most innovative dining establishments, Tiago doesn’t shy away from pushing the creative envelope with their marshmallow pie. The dessert pizza, RMB 99, also includes crushed biscuits (chocolate and peanut), chocolate sauce, and almonds.

Dog House's Pizza Hot Dog

Situated in Central Park, Dog House sports over 25 different kinds of hot dog combos – too bad the Beijinger doesn’t yet have a Hot Dog Cup … yet. The dog in question, a top-seller according to Manager Michelle Diao, is replete with marina sauce, crushed chili, Italian spice, pepperoni, and mozzarella (RMB 40).

Baozza

As a crowd-favorite at last month’s Pizza Fest, Baozza is exactly what its name implies: a hybrid between baozi and pizza. Current flavors, available for purchase in their Sanlitun Soho outlet, include: margherita, meat lover, barbecue chicken, and Hawaiian jalapeño.

Fatboy's Pizza the Hutt Burger

Placing seventh overall in the 2016 Burger Cup rankings, Fatboy’s does an admirable job melding two comfort foods into one. The Pizza the Hutt, RMB 78, is covered with tomato sauce, melted Monterrey jack cheese, and of course, topped with pepperoni.

North Capital's Jianbing Pizza

Despite bearing resemblance to a quesadilla, North Capital's second entrant into this increasingly offbeat contest of pizza-inspired fare, is in itself a brazenly unique concoction. The key differentiation: the pizza jianbing, RMB 25, is enveloped in a wrap that's far softer in texture than the brittle, grilled tortilla wrap that comes with most quesadillas.

There you have it: six eclectic candidates vying for the title of Beijing’s best pizza spinoff! Voting in this new (and dare we say awesome) category will happen in conjunction with the Pizza Cup’s championship round, so don’t forget to check back tomorrow, at 4pm for a double-dose of cheese-laden action! And of course, before we dish up the result of who is in this year's final, head over and vote for your top pie and help them slide to the top in year's competition.