The Deep Dish: Tube Station Might Be the Most 'Beijing' Contender for the Cup They Never Won

As online voting continues for the 2017 Pizza Cup, The Deep Dish will be previewing a few of the restaurants vying for the title of Beijing's most beloved pie. So take a look, grab a slice, and pick the team you want to be victorious.

The things about crowns and thrones is that they're either inherited or taken – you can either count on retaining it through your good name, or you can fight to snatch it from the next guy. Tube Station hopes to be the latter.

If you've never eaten at Tube Station, you don't like to party. We're kidding, of course, but you're missing out on a special bonding experience best undertaken with friends and while inebriated: one of their famous RMB 500, 5-7 people-feeding, 32" Party Monster pizzas, which we assure you are simply too large for one man to stand up to alone, but exactly what you and your drunken horde need as you stumble out of whichever watering hole has just spit you out.

Tube Station wasn't always the Tube Station we know and love today, though, serving your cheese and dough-based relief, always nearby no matter where you are. Before it opened its 17 branches throughout the country (with plans to open another four locations within the next six months), Tube Station was but a small sandwich shop, established in 1999 – just a short while before fellow Beijing-native pizza queen Annie established her first Italian restaurant in the city.

And while we're comparing apples to oranges (why can't fruit be compared?), let us point out that Annie's strives – and many would say succeeds – at being Beijing's longest-running, most successful, and (according to many of our readers) best Italian restaurant. Tube Station, on the other hand, is 100% dedicated to that New York-style pizza life, in particular.

Sure, they serve salads, wings, and snacks, but it's clear that all those offerings are intended to accompany and support the main event, the only thing that matters: their at times comically large, perfectly greasy and cheesy pizza pies, with thin crusts, plenty of cheese, and hot sauce and ranch dressing available upon request.

So committed is Tube Station to the pizza life that even their desserts are served in pie form (though that's not weird at all when you think about it). My personal favorite (and likely my birthday cake here in a few weeks): the cherry cheesecake pizza (pictured top-center above), which is everything you're imagining but even better: cherry pie filling and cream cheese spread on their signature crust, dusted with their pizza cheese blend for a sweet-and-savory slice that we couldn't get enough of.

Obviously, not every pie is 32" in diameter, so Tube Station can bring comfort to the lonelyhearts, too. They brought their Meat Grinder (RMB 145 for a 48cm pizza) and Greek Champion (RMB 135 for a 48cm pizza) to our 2017 Pizza Fest at Wangjing Soho (along with the completely absurd 64" display pie, pictured below, which we sadly believe was never actually eaten by anyone). They also brought crunchy fried shrimp spring rolls and Goose Island IPA to the party, a reprieve for those who may have gotten 'za-ed out in the all-day eat-and-drink marathon.

Aside from the over-the-top and tragically wasteful monster pizza pictured above, Tube Station sponsored their own special stage and music at the event (separate from the Beijinger's main stage). They've teamed up with Modern Sky to sponsor some seriously cool international music festivals like Strawberry Music Festival here in China and recently traveled to New York City to dole out slices at the Modern Sky Festival, featuring artists like Edison Chen and Xiao Bai.

Tube Station has been around Beijing through thick and thin, not just surviving but thriving all the while. And what do they do with that success? Do they start gold-plating their restaurants' furniture? Do they invest in wood-fired pizza ovens and jack up prices? No, they invest it into the community they serve, into Beijing and its culture.

Is there better pizza out there? Well, that's subjective, and I believe that all pizza deserves love. But is there a more "Beijing" pizza place, one more deserving of Beijingers' love? Let us know when you cast your votes, they're still in the running for the Pizza Cup they've yet to win.

Photos: Mary Kate White, Uni You, courtesy of Tube Station