A Pizza Your Mind: The Beijinger Pizza Cup Kicks-Off Monday

The Beijingers | Nov 4, 2011 12:00 pm | 57 comments | 5112 reads

The Beijinger.com’s Pizza Wars series has ended but that’s no reason for pie fans to despair. On Monday, November 7, voting goes live on the The Beijinger Pizza Cup. We're pitting 32 of the city’s best pizza joints against each other in a knockout tournament. You get to decide who walks off with the crown.

Even better: If you can predict the final matchup and the ultimate winner, then you stand a chance of winning a pizza party at the restaurant that emerges as the champion of The Beijinger Pizza Cup. Just tell us your prediction before the first round of voting ends (at noon on November 14).

How you can win:
Simply leave a comment on this blog post stating who you think will win The Beijinger Pizza Cup and who they will beat in the final. For example, “Pizza Hut will beat Mr. Pizza” is perfect but feel free to be funnier than that. (Also, we aren’t suggesting that the aforementioned example is true. Everyone knows that Mr. Pizza would beat Pizza Hut.)

How we picked the bracket:
The 32 competitors were decided by our Dining Team, with 24 of the restaurants being taken straight from the Pizza Wars series of blogs. The 12 winners of the Pizza Wars were seeded for the The Beijinger Pizza Cup so as to avoid each other in the first round of voting. Another eight competitors were added to bring the tournament up to 32 participants. These were decided by such factors as being in the top eight pizzas as voted for in The Beijinger’s 2011 Restaurant Awards (Sureño), being the top-scoring pizza on Dianping.com (La Cascina) and being representative of Beijing’s geography (Meeting Point, Bang Bang!, Red House, Mrs. Shanen’s). We also excluded major chain restaurants; we want this competition to reflect the restaurateurs in Beijing who are creating something individual rather than rewarding a corporation.

This way, we figured that almost every voter’s favorite will have made the starting 32.

Four of the eight wildcards were assigned seeded status at random so that there were 16 seeds and 16 unseeded pizza venues. We then staged a live draw (video is available) that picked the seeds vs. the non-seeds for each initial match-up. All drawings were random. If you see a match-up that you think is odd or might cause an upset, then you’ll have to blame fate or probability. There is one-in-ten chance that you'll blame fate. You should blame probability.

See you on Monday at 2pm for your chance to decide the best pizza in Beijing. In the meantime, good luck picking the winner. Don't forget to leave a comment with your prediction below.

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admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Mon, 11/21/2011 - 13:58

Still alive in the Pizza Cup challenge to win a pizza party for 10 ...

Sida: Kro's Nest over Gung Ho! Pizza
Hills: Kro's Nest over Gung Ho! Pizza
fishsh: Kro's Nest over Gung Ho! Pizza

TX_Chick: Gung Ho! Pizza over Kro's Nest
MattyHar: Gung Ho! Pizza over Kro's Nest
ChinaJosh: Gung Ho! Pizza over The Tree
ChinaJosh: Gung Ho! Pizza over The Tree
Badr: Gung Ho! Pizza over The Tree

peterm325: The Tree over Gung Ho! Pizza
rjing14: The Tree over Gung Ho! Pizza

dina88: Hutong Pizza over Gung Ho! Pizza

anniebenben: Sureno over The Tree

biglebufski: La Pizza over Gung Ho! Pizza

Prognosticators that have been overthrown:

joshong: Kro's Nest over Annie's (Annie's gone)
CJ750: Kro's Nest over Annie's (Annie's gone)
Octorok: Kro's Nest over Bang! Bang! Pizza (Bang! Bang! gone)
SashaBeijing: Kro's Nest over Nasca (Nasca gone)
Happysimin: The Tree over Annie's (Annie's gone)
Evenflow: The Tree over Annie's (Annie's gone)
chickenspider: Hutong Pizza over Tube Station (Tube Station gone)
SteveW: Bang! Bang! over La Pizza (Bang! Bang! gone)

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Mon, 11/14/2011 - 14:07

With the first round of voting now over (see results here), we can conclusively eliminate these contestants from contention for the pizza party for 10, as their picks failed to make it out of the first round

octorok wrote:
Kro's Nest over Bang! Bang! Pizza

Bang Bang is gone
SashaBeijing wrote:
Kro's Nest over Nasca

Nasca is gone
chickenspider wrote:
Hutong Pizza over Tube Station

Tube Station is gone
SteveW wrote:
Bang! Bang! over La Pizza

Bang Bang is gone

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Mon, 11/14/2011 - 12:51

OK no more forecasts will be accepted ... here our our contestants and their predictions, listed with the most common predictions first:

Sida wrote:
Kro's Nest over Gung Ho!

Hills wrote:
Kro's Nest over Gung Ho! Pizza

fishsh wrote:
Kro's Nest over Gung Ho! Pizza

joshong wrote:
Kro's Nest over Annie's

CJ750 wrote:
Kro's Nest over Annie's

octorok wrote:
Kro's Nest over Bang! Bang! Pizza

SashaBeijing wrote:
Kro's Nest over Nasca
TX_Chick wrote:
Gung Ho over Kro's Nest

MattyHar wrote:
Gung Ho over Kro's Nest

ChinaJosh wrote:
Gung Ho over the The Tree
peterm325 wrote:
The Tree over Gung-Ho!

rjing14 wrote:
The Tree over Gung Ho!

Happysimin wrote:
The Tree over Annie's

evenflow wrote:
The Tree over Annie's
chickenspider wrote:
Hutong Pizza over Tube Station

dina88 wrote:
Hutong Pizza over Gung Ho!
anniebenben wrote:
Sureno over The Tree
biglebufski wrote:
La Pizza over Gung Ho
SteveW wrote:
Bang! Bang! over La Pizza

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

SashaBeijing's picture SashaBeijing Submitted by Guest on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 20:24

I'd like to see Nasca vs. Kro's in the finals. Kro's has been back with a vengeance since opening the new location, with better pizza and a much cooler space than the old ones (sorry, Tube Station, you suck and will always be a Chinese rip-off of the original, not to mention a cheat). Nasca makes some amazing gourmet pizzas with great ingredients at reasonable prices. I have been seriously underwhelmed by Gung Ho, which I think is not worth the inflated price at all, so I hope they go down to the New Zealand cafe. Whenever I want good times and pizza, though, I opt for Kro's.

Kro's vs. Nasca - Winner Kro's

admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 06:03

ChinaJosh wrote:

But all in all, such a better scene for pizza than it was when I first arrived in the city almost 7 years ago!

EXACTLY

worth noting that all 32 in the bracket are Beijing originals -- born and bred in this city we call home.

And sure there's going to be lots of snarky comments about how this one sucks or this one's definitely not as good as that one -- but let's not get too finicky here, one thing that can be said is that YES you can great pizza here in Beijing ... without having to resort to the international fast food chains.

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

ChinaJosh's picture ChinaJosh Submitted by Guest on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 03:23

Gung Ho over the The Tree.

Gung Ho beating out Hutong (popularity win, since Pyro would be a contender, but no one will make the journey out to Wudaokou to try it - or they'll vote on their experience 4 years ago, when it was baby fresh and not as good as it is today Wink

The Tree beating out Kro, (history and popularity, plus Beijing always seems to like thin crust pizzas when the voting gets down to it.)

But all in all, such a better scene for pizza than it was when I first arrived in the city almost 7 years ago!

admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 12:29

MattyHar wrote:
I think in general this contest and the burger one are pretty silly. It's like going to DC and having a contest on the best Chinese restaurant. It's not a choice of who's best but who is the best at being mediocre. Just my opinion tho, for example some people really like the pizza at Sbarro.

this is the reason we omit major chains from the balloting.

i think quibbling with the results is understandable -- no one has the same tastes, and of course that little hole in the wall no one knows about will win a contest like this.

But as a general indicator of quality, I can't say I totally disagree with the results of the Burger Cup (http://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/The-Beijinger-Burger-Cup), where the Final Four really do represent pretty damn good choices in the 'Jing: The Den, Blue Frog, Union Bar & Grille and Fatburger

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 12:17

Based on the responses above so far, here's my back-of-the-envelope calculation of the odds of winning for each contestant named above:

Kro's Nest (2 to 1 odds)
Gung Ho Pizza (3 to 1 odds)
The Tree (5 to 1 odds)
La Pizza (8 to 1 odds)
Annie's (14 to 1 odds)
Hutong Pizza (20 to 1 odds)
Bang! Bang! Pizza (53 to 1 odds)
Tube Station (106 to 1 odds)

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

MattyHar's picture MattyHar Submitted by Guest on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 10:08

I think it'll be a close one in the final between Gung Ho and Kro's and Gung Ho will take because I've heard a lot of complaints about the service at Kro's recently.

Has anyone who thinks Annie's will win ever actually eaten their pizza or are they just thinking it will be a case of name recognition?

I think in general this contest and the burger one are pretty silly. It's like going to DC and having a contest on the best Chinese restaurant. It's not a choice of who's best but who is the best at being mediocre. Just my opinion tho, for example some people really like the pizza at Sbarro.

anniebenben's picture anniebenben Submitted by Guest on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 21:36

you are right about the tree beating annie's though annie is my name (too). i am pretty sure sureno will beat his next-door neighboor the tree in the final. let's wait and see.
my first date with my husband was at the hiddlen tree on a summer evening at the hidden tree which later moved and changed to the tree. the tree obviously used to be my favorite pizza but, unfortunately, no longer is. the twin brother's pizzas are excellent but sometimes other chefs are quite disappointing so my husband and i stopped going there. every week, almost every wednesday, we go to sureno for pizza!

admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 06:11

zhuwensen wrote:
Gung Ho! will be the winner.

to be eligible for the prize (pizza party for 10 at winning establishment) you need to tell us who they will beat in the final round from the other side of the bracket

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 06:10

Cody wrote:
Kro's Nest Pizza will be the final winner!

to be eligible for the prize (pizza party for 10 at winning establishment) you need to tell us who they will beat in the final round from the other side of the bracket

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 06:02

cina wrote:
La Pizza beats The Tree, easy.

ok that takes care of the left side of the bracket ... who will be the contender for the right side to face off against La Pizza, and who will win that battle?

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

richardcnc's picture richardcnc Submitted by Guest on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 00:00

Feeling Annie's/Gung-ho and Kro's/Tree will be in the semi-finals with a cheesy ending or a gooey mess like the kids make when doing their mini-pizzas.

Could be Annie's in the end that takes the pizza prize as they're affordable and consistent, but with Gung-ho's new Lido location, things may tip the balance in this pizza world!

JWhite's picture JWhite Submitted by Guest on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 13:41

My heart says that Beijing will finally understand how good Pizza Buona is and it will beat Hutong Pizza in a toughly contested final.

My head suggests that the Beijing pizza public will opt for a final that looks a little more like The Tree or Kro's Nest meeting Gung Ho! or Annie's.

Of the four major contenders, it's probably going to be Kro's vs. Ho's and the pink team will wheel away with the crown.

Jonathan White, Managing Editor the Beijinger/TheBeijinger.com

expat13's picture expat13 Submitted by Guest on Sun, 11/06/2011 - 20:31

My favorite pizza in Beijing over the years has been at Take 5. I have not been there in many years now and not even sure if they are open anymore, but they had a good one. I would expect that the winner will be based on what the voter profile is and I think the place that sells more pizza than anyone in Beijing which is probably Annie's may win. Not the best pizza for sure, but in my opinion the winner.

badr's picture badr Submitted by Guest on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 14:05

one case where dianping users might have a leg up on expats.. la Cacina has been serving a mean authentic pizza for years now and no one noticed.

back to the contest:

The right bracket will see a heated semi-final between Gunho and hutong pizza, classic 12 rounder with no knockout victory.

The left bracket is much tougher to call with some talented dough-ers as well as popular ones. Kro will crash and burn early on in a legendary upset that might see the Tree unfairly access the final.

understandably, many people will be left screaming about the winner, whomever that is

esperegus's picture esperegus Submitted by Guest on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 13:55

Kro's Nest will beat Gung Ho in the final after Kro upsets La Pizza in the semi and Gung Ho takes Hutong Pizza down.

It's besides the point, but the left side of the draw is much stronger than the right side.

Also, I'm going to bet that at least one of these restaurants will close before the contest is finished ...

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