Bottega, Forno, Annie's & Great Leap Start Pizza Cup 2021 as Top Seeds

Michael Wester | Nov 11, 2021 3:20 pm | Add a comment | 158 reads

Reigning Pizza Cup champion Bottega shares top seed honors with Annie’s, Forno and Great Leap Brewing as the Round of 64 of the 2021 Pizza Cup kicks off.

But it's not just veterans who have made it in. Nine fresh faces are also making their bracket debut in this round. Amongst them are the rising gastropub Commune Reserve; Universal Studio's Citywalk Red Oven Pizza Bakery; Georgia's Feast and their Central Asian take on pizza; and new Italian eatry La Platea. Also appearing for the first time are Let's Seafood, Kitty & Daniel, Volare, Steam Pizza and Very Sport.

These are just some of the places that made it from the list of 100 of Beijing's top pizza spots we asked you to whittle down to 64. Now your task is to examine the matchups below and help us cut the list to 32.

Get right into it by scanning the code below with your WeChat account, you've got til Monday, Nov 15 at noon to do so:

In each matchup we’ll ask you to rate your favorite. And no, you need not have an encyclopedic knowledge of every Beijing pizza parlor; you are entitled – no, in fact encouraged – to skip any of the matchups between competitors you have not tried.

That being said, why not take advantage of this list to fill out your hit list of places to try? If there’s one outcome we’d like to see from this whole affair, it’s to see you expand your pizzar horizons. There’s tons to try out there and its your sacred duty as a voter to try them all (or at least die of heart disease trying).

Veteran voters, take note, this year’s cup is different: Online voting will bring the list down from 64 to 32, and then 32 to 16 – but from there, voting reverts to in-person only.

You read right, once we get to the Sweet 16, we’ll take the four leading pizza places in each bracket and throw a pizza party for each – and only those that come out to try all four will get to choose the winner. Four parties on four consecutive weekends will result in our Final Four, which we’ll bring together for a Final Taste-Off.

Dates and times for these events will be announced next week.

In the meantime, here's the '21 Pizza Cup voting schedule:

Thursday, Nov 11: Round of 64 voting commences
Monday, Nov 15: Round of 32 announced
Thursday, Nov 18: Sweet 16 announced

And, without further ado, here's the full list of Round of 64 matchups:

Bracket A
Bottega 意库 (1) vs Let's Seafood 非常创意海鲜 (16)
Tube Station 站点比萨 (2) vs Nine Road Pizzeria 速度披萨 (15)
Pie Squared 方派披萨 (3) vs Via Roma·Kempinski Hotel 花样罗马意大利餐厅 (14)
Kro's Nest 乌巢 (4) vs Assaggi 尝试意大利餐厅 (13)
Pizza Marzano 比萨玛尚诺 (5) vs Laker's 湖人餐吧 (12)
Domino's Pizza 达美乐比萨 (6) vs Peter Pan Peter Pan意大利餐厅 (11)
Citywalk Red Oven Pizza Bakery 城市大道火炉披萨烘焙坊 (7) vs Tiago (10)
Plan B (8) vs Lily's American Diner 莉莉斯美式西餐厅 (9)

Bracket B
Forno 意角 (1) vs Mao Mao Chong 毛毛虫酒吧 (16)
Pizza Saporita 意块披萨 (2) vs Volare (15)
Gung Ho! 叫板！比萨 (3) vs Grandma's Kitchen 祖母的厨房 (14)
Papa John's 棒约翰比萨 (4) vs Kitty & Daniel 大牛好莱坞餐吧（蓝色港湾） (13)
Yummy Box 美盒比萨 (5) vs Mr. Pizza 米斯特披萨 (12)
Frasca (6) vs The Rug (11)
Xian Bar, East Hotel (7) vs QS 奎妮妙选 (10)
Ponte 意大利餐厅 (8) vs Tavola Italian Dining (9)

Bracket C
Annie's 安妮意大利餐厅 (1) vs Bacchus Bistro 酒神食馆 (16)
Q Mex Bar & Grill 库迈墨西哥餐吧 (2) vs Tomcado 花厨 (15)
La Pizza 那匹萨 (3) vs Steam Pizza 蒸汽披萨（颐堤港店） (14)
The Local (4) vs LMPlus (13)
Turkish Feast 西庭·秀色 (5) vs Green Cow City Cafe 单太太绿牛咖啡 (12)
Commune Reserve (6) vs La Cucina 后厨意餐 (11)
Georgia's Feast 格鲁·秀色 (7) vs NBeer Pub 牛啤堂 (10)
Pizza Hut 必胜客 (8) vs Miam Miam 咪吖咪吖 (9)

Bracket D
Great Leap Brewing 大跃啤酒 (1) vs Very Sport 意大利餐吧 (16)
Jing-A Brewing Co. 京A (2) vs Pizza Now 披萨到 (15)
Pizza Show 披萨秀 (3) vs Eudora Station 亿多瑞站 (14)
Hulu 琥禄 (4) vs Big Pizza 比格比萨 (13)
Pyro Pizza 火鬼餐吧 (5) vs La Mezzaluna 伴月意大利餐厅 (12)
Eatalia 意塔利意式餐厅 (6) vs Buona Bocca 意大利小馆儿 (11)
Paddy O'Shea's 爱尔兰酒吧 (7) vs Scott's Family Ristorante Italiano 意大利家庭料理 (10)
The Cheesecake Factory 芝乐坊 (8) vs La Platea 兰蒂地中海餐厅 (9)