2013 Burger Cup: Plan B vs. Lily's American Diner

The Beijinger Burger Cup is back for another year and this is your chance to vote for your favorite burgers before we arrange a face-to-face cook-off in August to determine the winner.

This year, we begin with Burger Battles: a series of face-offs pitting Beijing beef patties against each other. These will not necessarily reflect the ultimate match-ups in our Burger Cup bracket, but give burger fans and burger chefs an idea as to how the product may fare in the final competition.

Visit our website often for Burger Battles, updates on the Cup, and more on how you can participate in voting and other burger activities.

Round 8 pits Plan B against Lily’s American Diner. Two burgers, same price, roughly the same size, battle to the death.

Plan B: local Shuangjing hangout and homey sports bar from the former proprietor of Grinders, Trevor Metz, has expanded to burgers. Of course, the wide selection of bottled beers and satellite sports is still available. Enjoy the AC inside with the TV or bask in the sun outside in its sizable outdoor seating area.

The Plan B Burger was made up of a big thick beef patty, topped with cheese, tomato, onion, jalapenos and pickles.

The beef patty was a tad dry and needed marinating, but there was dash of oil, which helped to slightly reduce the dryness of the burger that also tasted a little rough in parts. The jalapenos and pickles really helped. The highlight was the caramelized onions, though they weren't caramelized enough. A hint of cheese could be detected. The medium-sized burger comes with chips.

If the onions had been given more time to caramelize and some sort of sauce was added rather than the table ready squeeze of ketchup and mustard, to aide the already hot to trot jalapenos, then this might have been a perfect burger.

Price: RMB 40

Lily’s American Diner: Another Shuangjing neighborhood joint, Lily’s was opened by former Steak and Eggs staffer Lily. Offering a selection of classically greasy North American and Tex-Mex, including breakfast specials, the diner is decked in what else but diner-inspired décor, with a modern brown theme and chrome lamp shades.

Lily’s Burger is amazing because of the coleslaw and how well it blends with the melted cheese. The taste and texture created is very close to honey mustard sauce, adding just the right amount of sweetness and sourness to the burger, although the bacon is a bit stiff. The cheese had melted into an unrecognizable state (hence the illusion that it was honey mustard with the runny sauce from the coleslaw). Admittedly, it’s hard to find coleslaw this good in Beijing.

Compared to the Plan B burger (packed tightly with only a few loose pickles sprawling out) I had trouble keeping Lily’s burger inside the bun, but we’ve got to hand it to them, it’s not easy filling a burger with coleslaw. Lily’s burger is also slightly wider than Plan B’s, although Plan B’s is taller. Note the burger came already sliced in half, which is rare, I can’t quite decide if I like it or not, but the plus side is you can take home the leftovers if you’ve had enough.

Price: RMB 40

The Decision: Lily’s American Diner
Lily’s burger wins because of the smoother taste. Despite the softer sesame bun, it still packs in more flavor and sauciness on a hot summer's day. It was a close run thing, but Lily's just gets the nod for me.

Photos: Elizabeth Wu