Burger Cup Final Four: Top Seeds Reign Supreme
The heat is on as this year's top four Burger Cup seeds slide ever closer to the ultimate grilling for the Burger Cup crown, and it's all down to you – the city's proud burger eaters.
As we move closer to the finish, there's one contestant that can be particularly proud for being the first ever unseeded venue to progress all the way to the Final Four in Burger Cup history. Those ferocious underdogs – Side Street – now face always-the-bridesmaid-never-the-bride Great Leap Brewing (GLB).
Despite Side Street having outmaneuvered Fangjia Hutong's The Great Outdoors, an even more stifling showdown awaits on the other side of the bracket, with two-time champion Slow Boat Brewery looking to unseat defending Burger Cup king Q Mex.
In this past round, all four top seeds won their respective matches by a wide margin, with GLB’s victory over Jing-A being the biggest shut-out. Meanwhile, it proved a close call for Q Mex this week, when the reigning champ came close to surrendering its crown in the Elite Eight matchup against The Local.
The greasy path to the Final Four (as it happened)
Early on, Side Street defeated The Bell (8) to advance to the Sweet 16, then shot down Arrow Factory (4) to slide into the Elite Eight, and finally dusted The Great Outdoors (3) to land a spot in our Final Four bracket. Side Street on Jiaodaokou is the newest burger-flinger to make it this far in the Cup, having rebranded from its Ron Mexico digs just a few months ago.
GLB routed Ramo (8) in the opening Round of 32, catapulted over Caravan (5), then took down its brewery rival Jing-A (2) in our contest’s biggest win thus far. GLB is a frequent Cup contender, and this year could mark its first win.
Meanwhile, two-time Burger Cup champ Slow Boat beat out Biteapitta (8) before halting Hulu (4) and ultimately blowing out Cannon’s Burgers (3) in hopes of catching a wave to victory once again.
Finally, current king Q Mex’s Double Burger crushed QS (8) in the Cup’s early days, squealed by 3 Little Pigs by Andy’s Craft Sausages (4), and just barely drove out The Local (3) in the latest voting round.
During this last round of voting, we also asked you which nation makes the best beef for burgers. This year, you chose the US of A, seeing your 2017 top pick Australia packing back Down Under. Argentina, the purveyors of a damn fine steak sandwich, came a not-so-close third for a final tally that looked like:
United States
Australia
Argentina
New Zealand
Japan
China
Canada
Brazil
Uruguay
Mexico
As for your choice of cheese? Most of you demand cheddar slathered atop your burger pile, though Swiss slid up this year’s rankings, and blue broke out as 2018’s most surprising showing for a favorite cheese ranking that looks a little bit something like this:
Cheddar
Swiss
Blue
American
Mozzarella
Monterey Jack
Goat
Provolone
Feta
I don’t like cheese on my burgers (you dairy traitors!)
So will it be smooth sailing for Slow Boat to a third Burger Cup title? Could Q Mex reclaim the crown for a second straight victory? Or will Side Street give us the juiciest matchup in Burger Cup history against GLB?
Voting for the Championship Round closes midday on Friday, Jul 6, and our new Burger Cup winner will be crowned Monday, Jul 9. Until then, chow down and ketchup on all our 2018 Burger Cup coverage and chew on a full round-up of the results below. Happy munching, Beijing!
Burger Cup Final Four Round matchup
Side Street (1) vs Great Leap (1)
Slow Boat Brewery (1) vs Q Mex (1)
Our Burger Cup champions, through the years
2011
Blue Frog
2012, 2013, 2014
Home Plate BBQ
2015, 2016
Slow Boat Brewery
2017
Q Mex
2018
???
Here’s how voting played out this week
Slow Boat Brewery (1) over Cannon’s Burgers (3)
Q Mex (1) over The Local (3)
Great Leap (1) over Jing-A (2)
Side Street (1) over The Great Outdoors (3)
Those that did not make the Elite Eight were ranked by you, our faithful voters:
9. Home Plate BBQ
10. Blue Frog
11. 3 Little Pigs by Andy’s Craft Sausages
12. Common Burger @ ARCADE by Hatchery
13. Arrow Factory
14. Fatburger
15. Hulu
16. Caravan
They join the rest of the field, whose rankings were determined by voting last round:
17. Let’s Burger
18. Plan B
19. Katchup
20. 4corners
21. The Butchers Club
22. Stuff’d
23. Paddy O’Shea’s
24. Biteapitta
25. The Cheesecake Factory
26. Lily’s American Diner
27. Fatboy’s
28. Ramo
29. QS
30. Bodensee Kitchen
31. Joe’s Bar and Kitchen
32. The Bell
33. XL Bar
34. Laker's
35. East Hotel
36. Migas Mercado
37. Beersmith Gastropub
38. Punjabi
39. Waspark
40. de Refter
41. Lush
42. Grandma's Kitchen
43. Tim's Texas Bar-B-Q
44. Bistrot B
45. Veggie Table
46. Legend Beer
47. 1F
48. VSports Bar and Restaurant
49. Panda Brew
50. Root Pop
51. Irish Volunteer
52. NBeer Pub
53. Morton's of Chicago
54. Eudora Station
55. Café Flatwhite
56. Fella’s
57. The Rug Café
58. Beer Mania
59. Picture My Cup at Kimo Kids Cafe
60. Steamrhino Brewery Restaurant
61. Grinders
62. Burger Counter
63. Tiger Pancake House
64. Peiping Machine
65. The Roots
66. Windy City
67. iB Craft Beer
68. Yummy Box Pizza
69. Village Cafe, Opposite House
70. Luga's Villa
71. The Bookworm
72. Blue Marlin
73. Park Side Bar & Grill
74. Three Guys Burger House
75. Wolfgang’s Steakhouse
76. Cafe Flo
77. Pop Up Kitchen
78. Angel Burger
79. The Cut, Fairmont Beijing
80. Peking Garden
81. Frost Coffee, Cocktails and Dining
82. CHAR Bar & Grill
83. C’est la Vie
84. Aurora
85. Park Square
86. Four Ace
87. Burger Break
88. Molly Malone’s
89. He Kitchen
90. O’Leary’s
91. The Kitchen Table, W Beijing Chang'an
92. Balmain Gourmet
93. Meat by Ernest
94. Steak Exchange, InterContinental Hotel
95. Flora Steak and Bar
96. Dongli Brewery
97. Rolling Rolling Craft Brewing
98. BLT American Restaurant Salad & Grill
99. Wiggly Jiggly’s
100. MustGuette
Images: the Beijinger, courtesy of the venues
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