Home Plate, Slow Boat, Great Leap, Blue Frog Top Seeds as Voting Opens in the 2015 Burger Cup

Reigning champion Home Plate BBQ along with other top seeds Slow Boat, Great Leap and Blue Frog are hoping their legions of fans propel them through the first round as voting opens in this year’s 64-contestant Burger Cup.

Race right over to the voting page at www.thebeijinger.com/2015Burgercup to cast your ballot before the first round ends August 30.

Burger-slinging venues citywide are competing once again for the title of Beijing’s best burger.

Contestants in this year's contest were chosen from over 100 Beijing burger-serving venues. Using last year’s final rankings as well as a consumer panel of 100 to integrate new competitors, each contestant was pre-ranked and inserted into our single-elimination bracket.

The bracket, a standard seeded bracket used in competitions such as the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, is designed to separate the stronger competitors from meeting in early rounds and eliminating each other before the action gets hot.

This year’s competition features a lot of familiar faces as well as 17 venues that were not in competition last year. Newcomers Jing-A, Kenny's Burgers, Ramo, Paulaner Maximillian, Yuppie & Yummy, Sunbake & Brew, Bistrot B, and The Smokeyard are new to Beijing over the last 12 months; meanwhile, four existing venues that didn't make the cut last year make their debut in 2015: Groovy Schiller's, Loft Eatalicious, Fly Pizza, and Shunyi’s Hungry Horse.

Jing-A and Kenny's Burgers have the honor of being the highest-seeded newcomers, each #9 in their respective brackets. Both face tough battles in the first round, with Jing-A facing 8-seeded Biteapitta and Kenny's facing off vs 8-seed Beer Mania.

For those lamenting the lack of international chains such as Burger King and Fatburger, it would help for us to explain our methodology: In order to give the glory to the venues that make Beijing unique, we’ve intentionally left off major international chains; the exceptions to the rule are homegrown China-based chains (such as Blue Frog and Kro’s Nest) and international chains that have only a single outlet in Beijing (such as Morton’s).

To show your support for your favorite venues, vote now to send them to the next round. Remember, you'll need to help them survive each round by returning to vote; here's the schedule of voting:

Round of 64: Open now; Closes at noon, Sun, Aug 30.

Round of 32: Opens at 4pm, Sun, Aug 30; Closes at noon, Thu, Sep 3.

Sweet 16: Opens at 4pm, Thu, Sep 3; Closes at noon, Mon, Sep 7.

Elite Eight: Opens at 4pm, Mon, Sep 7; Closes at noon, Thu, Sep 10.

Final Four: Opens at 4pm, Thu, Sep 10; Closes at noon, Mon, Sep 14.

Finals: Opens at 4pm, Mon, Sep 14; Closes at noon, Wed, Sep 16.

The grand champion and final seedings of the 2015 Burger Cup will be announced shortly afterward

In the mean time, take a gander at the seedings and matchups, download yourself a full bracket by clicking on the graphic below:
 

The official 2015 Pre-Tournament Seedings:

Bracket A
1. Home Plate BBQ
2. Let's Burger
3. Lily's American Diner
4. Lush
5. Flamme
6. The Kro's Nest Disqualified as they have removed burgers from their menu
7. 1F
8. Grandma's Kitchen
9. Village Cafe, Opposite House
10. Laker's
11. Groovy Schiller's
12. Grinders
13. Bistrot B (New Since Last Year)
14. Eudora Station
15. Waspark
16. The Cut, Fairmont Beijing

Bracket B
1. Blue Frog
2. The Local
3. Q Mex
4. Temple Bar
5. Tim's Texas Bar-B-Q
6. Migas Disqualified as they have removed burgers from their menu
7. Cafe Flatwhite
8. Beer Mania
9. Kenny's Burgers (New Since Last Year)
10. Ramo (New Since Last Year)
11. Fly Pizza (Unranked in 2014)
12. Burger Me
13. Peter's Tex-Mex
14. Pinotage
15. The Bookworm
16. Park Side Bar & Grill

Bracket C
1. Slow Boat Brewery
2. Plan B
3. Union Bar and Grille
4. Stuff'd
5. 4corners
6. The Irish Volunteer
7. Windy City
8. The Den
9. Nola
10. Yuppie & Yummy (New Since Last Year)
11. Loft Eatalicious (Unranked in 2014)
12. Jamaica Blue
13. Domain, East Hotel
14. Rumi
15. Twilight
16. The Smokeyard (New Since Last Year)

Bracket D
1. Great Leap Brewing
2. The Big Smoke
3. Frost Coffee, Cocktails and Dining
4. Luga's Villa
5. Morton's of Chicago
6. Katchup
7. Paddy O'Shea's
8. Biteapitta
9. Jing-A (New Since Last Year)
10. Paulaner Maximillian, Hotel Maximillian Beijing (New Since Last Year)
11. Sunbake & Brew, V-Continent Beijing Parkview Wuzhou Hotel (New Since Last Year)
12. The Garage
13. Frank's Place
14. The Filling Station
15. The Old Bike Cafe
16. Hungry Horse (Unranked in 2014)

For an in-depth look at some of this year's contenders, keep an eye out for our ongoing Burger Brief blog series. Catch pictures from this year's Burger Cup Launch Party here.

Photo: Uni