The launch party may be over, but the Burger Battle is just beginning!
We’re still recovering from the over 2,000 people that came through the front gates Saturday to sample some of the city’s best burgers and getting their taste buds prepped for selecting this year’s champion.
But before we unleash you on the first round of voting, we want to give you the rest of this week to go try those burgers you have not yet sampled.
You’ll find the pre-tournament seedings below; In the mean time, let’s tell you how we pre-seeded this year’s competitors:
First, we took last year’s final rankings and updated them via a panel of 200 burger lovers, in the process adding the dozen new burger places that have hit town since last time around and removing the handful of ones that closed.
While most of the stalwarts from last year remain firmly entrenched, 13 new competitors have entered the field of 64 – including newcomers Jing-A, Kenny’s Burgers, Ramo, Paulaner Maximillian, Yuppie & Yummy, Sanbake & Brew, Bistrot B, and The Smokeyard. Meanwhile, four existing venues that didn’t make the cut last year appear in this year’s Top 64: Groovy Schiller’s, Loft Eatalicious, Fly Pizza, and Hungry Horse.
Alas, we also said goodbye to five venues that ranked in our list last year: Burger Bar (#20), Burgers & Beer (#29), The Box (#36, though its boss is now running Ramo), Chef Too (#37) and Main Street (#41).
We move onto our regular voting this weekend. Take a gander at the seedings and matchups, download yourself a full bracket by clicking on the graphic below, and remember: try before you vote!
The official 2015 Pre-Tournament Seedings:
Bracket A
1. Home Plate Bar-B-Que
2. Let’s Burger
3. Lily’s American Diner
4. Lush
5. Flamme
6. The Kro’s Nest
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
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. Alibi
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. Sanbake & 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.
This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on August 18, 2015
Photo: Uni
