Frog Squashed by Feast, Other Top Seeds Move On as 2016 Burger Cup Goes to Final Four

More carnivore carnage took place in the Elite Eight of the 2016 Burger Cup as East Hotel's Feast knocked out 1-seed Blue Frog, setting up a bun-to-bun challenge with Q Mex, who outpaced Fatboy's The Burger Bar to make it to the Final Four.

UPDATE: Slow Boat Brewery Wins 2016 Burger Cup for Back-To-Back Titles

In other Elite Eight action, Slow Boat cruised by Union Bar & Grille while Great Leap Brewing #12 Brewpub narrowly averted an upset by Shuangjing's Plan B to book their ticket into the Final Four. Slow Boat now goes against GLB to battle it our for the right to represent the brewpubs in the championship match.

So our Final Four comes to this:

Slow Boat vs Great Leap in the top half of the bracket and Q Mex vs Feast in the bottom.

Vote now to pick your favorite in the round; you'll find the link to vote on our Burger Cup page here.

Each of our final four has poured their souls into making Beijing's best burger, and what a crop it is. If you haven't tried all four, well then you must be a fresh-off-the-boat vegan (if you're not, then what's your excuse? Get eatin'!)

Slow Boat, last year's champion, slayed the Burger Fest crowd with their wares, unloading several hundred into the stomachs of the capacity crowd. To punch their ticket into the Final Four, Slow Boat cruised past Helen's Cafe, Loft Eatalicious, Cafe Flatwhite, and finally Union.

Great Leap has gone from strength to strength with their three similar-but-distinct brewpubs, the #12 of which serves the burgers. On their way to the Final Four they marched past Peter's Tex-Mex, Chat Room, Luga's Villa, and Plan B.

Six-seed Feast is an unlikely entrant in our Final Four given they were a virtual unknown in last year's voting, but Rob Cunningham's Wagyu Burger has won many fans from its placement on the lunch menu at Feast; they also made a splash with their burgers served at this year's Burger Fest. Their Cinderella story into the Top 4 was made possible by underdog victories over perhaps the toughest field that any final four contestant faced: Bistrot B, The Big Smoke, The Local, and finally Blue Frog.

Q Mex, who's chef Marcus Medina has created a special burger just to "up the ante" in this year's contest, has been selling burgers like hotcakes with their contest-long 2-for-1 promotion, as well as slinging the patties non-stop at this year's Burger Fest. Their entry into the Top Four came courtesy of victories over Yuppie Yummy, Jamaica Blue, Katchup, and Fatboy's.

In the meantime, to whet your appetite, have a gander at our bracket so far:

For the data nerds, we asked you what you think a reasonable price to pay for a decent burger with no sides would be in Beijing, and our survey said RMB 48 – that's up from RMB 45 last year and RMB 44 two years ago.

Furthermore, we asked you to rank your favorite burger toppings. Here's the final rankings:

1. Cheese
2. Bacon
3. Onions
4. Tomatoes
5. Avocado
6. Lettuce
7. Mushrooms
8. Fried Egg
9. Pickles
10. Jalapeños
11. Arugula
12. Spinach

Below is a full recap of the Elite Eight:

Bracket A
Slow Boat (1) drifted past Union Bar & Grille (2)

Bracket B
Great Leap Brewing #12 Brewpub (1) unraveled Plan B (3)

Bracket C
Q Mex (2) put Fatboy's The Burger Bar (5) on a diet

Bracket D
Feast (Food By EAST) (6) upset Blue Frog (1)

Recall that you'll need to return for each round to escort your favorites to the finals. Here's the remaining vote schedule:

• Final Four: Opens now; closes noon Friday, June 17 (click here to cast your Final Four Burger Ballot).
• Championship Round: Opens 4pm Friday, June 17; closes noon Monday, June 20.

Finally, as is our custom, last round we asked you to rank the burgers that did not make it on to the Round of 8. This ranking now serves as their final standings in the 2016 Burger Cup:

9. Home Plate
10. The Local
11. Katchup
12. Let's Burger
13. Jing-A
14. Cafe Flatwhite
15. Luga's Villa
16. Ahava

They join the previously announced rankings, 17-97:

17. Big Smoke
18. 4corners
19. Lush
20. Stuff'd
21. Tim's Texas Bar-B-Q
22. Lily's American Diner
23. Frost Coffee
24. Billy's Fish & Chips
25. Biteapitta
26. BurgerMe
27. Morton's of Chicago
28. Jamaica Blue
29. Drunk Craft Beer & Restaurant
30. Chat Room
31. Kenny's Burgers
32. Loft Eatalicious
33. Paddy O'Shea's
34. Bistrot B, Rosewood Beijing
35. Ramo
36. Blue Marlin
37. 8-Bit
38. Nola
39. 1F
40. Nasca Café
41. The Smokeyard
42. Pinotage
43. Bunny Drop
44. Beer Mania
45. Temple Bar
46. Village Cafe, Opposite House
47. He Kitchen
48. Grandma's Kitchen
49. The Garage
50. Peter's Tex-Mex
51. Laker's
52. Burger Break
53. The Cut, Fairmont Beijing
54. Helen's Café
55. Grinders
56. Burger Counter
57. Eudora Station
58. VSports Bar and Restaurant
59. Park Side Bar & Grill
60. Dongli Brewery
61. Yuppie Yummy
62. Koli’s Camp
63. The Filling Station
64. Paulaner Maximilian
65. The Bookworm
66. Irish Volunteer
67. XL Bar
68. Veggie Table
69. Caravan
70. Angel Burger
71. Park Square
72. Serbia Burger
73. Hungry Horse
74. Cannon's Eatery
75. Dr. Cactus
76. Windy City
77. Uncle Sam's
78. Food Studio, Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing Hotel
79. Corner
80. Waspark
81. Pebbles Courtyard
82. Craft, Crowne Plaza Lido
83. One East
84. Rolling Rolling
85. North Capital
86. Kitchen Table, W Beijing Chang'an
87. Must Guette
88. Steak Exchange, InterContinental Hotel
89. MRL
90. Golden Era 50's Diner
91. Hub Kitchen
92. Little Britain
93. Landmark Café
94. Old Bike Café
95. Pentalounge, Penta Hotel
96. Fuel, Langham Place
97. Nanluo Big Burger

Image: the Beijinger