And So It Begins: Help Us Seed the Beijinger's Pizza Cup 2021 Bracket

Michael Wester | Nov 8, 2021 5:01 pm | Add a comment | 134 reads

For the second year in a row, a COVID flare-up has scuttled our plans for a big Pizza Festival – but you can’t keep a good slice down, so we’re doing this year's Pizza Fest in a special, albeit smaller, format. Rest assured, however, it's going to be filled with just as much pizza and fun as a full-on fest would be!

We’re building off the success of last year’s festival substitute, the Final Four Taste-Off: an experience that saw diners sample all four of our finalists, and then – and only then – being given the exclusive right to vote for the best.

Last year's taste off was quite the affair, with voters deciding in-house which pie – Bottega, Q MEX Bar & Grill, Great Leap Brewing, or Pizza Saporita – was best in Beijing. Bottega emerged the victor after staying neck-and-neck with Q MEX for most of the bout, with the latter eventually crumbling to Saporita, who snatched second place.

This year, we’re expanding the plan: Beijing’s 16 best pizza places will have their final ranking decided through a series of four live, in-person taste-offs. This will be followed by a fifth and final taste-off to decide who walks away with the crown.

Having five taste-offs will simultaneously give all you pizza-heads an excuse to quaff mass quantities, and also do away with the constant hassle of competitors stuffing the ballot box. This is because only those that genuinely try the competitors at the events will decide who moves onto subsequent rounds.

So how does one score tickets for one (or all) of the taste-offs? Hold your horses – we'll get to that later this week. First, we need your help in uncovering who will make the Sweet 16.

This starts with our annual seeding bracket – the list of Beijing’s 100 or so best pizzas which you, dear reader, will help us whittle down to 64…then 32, and finally the 16 who will make the taste-off events. More on that below – but first a quick look at 2021: The Year in Pizza.

The second full year of COVID has not been kind to Beijing's pizza scene. Unlike 2020, which saw the launch of formidable names such as Forno, The Pizza Show, and Frasca, 2021 hasn't seen many newbies whose pizza has risen to become reader faves. But newbies there are – amongst them La Platea, Commune Reserve, and Universal's Citywalk Red Oven Pizza Bakery.

On the flip side, we saw the last slices slung from now defunct outlets such as Boxing Cat Brewery, 1st Floor, and Lucky Las Vegas. Even some of last year's crop of openings – such as Happy Bites, The Cavern Club, Lonely Us, and Pi Italian Wine & Restaurant – failed to make it through their first year of business.

Despite all this tumult, however, Beijing still has around 100 pizza places alive and kicking, and rank them we must.

How Voting Will Work

Our initial ballot features some 100 contestants spread evenly into four brackets based on their rankings in last year’s Pizza Cup. Dead venues have of course been removed and rookies have been added in.

Your mission in the seeding round is to simply check off the name of your favorites. This data will be used to form the initial bracket of 64. Competitors will then go head-to-head until 16 remain.

Vote now by scanning this code in WeChat:

Notice a few names you don’t recognize? Well, this would be the perfect time to try those places before you vote. You may think you know Beijing's best pizza, but how can you be sure if you haven't tried them all?

Relax – you’ve got plenty of time to try! The first round is open until Thursday. A lot of pizza can be consumed in four days' worth of meals, and since most of them deliver, neither Beijing’s traffic nor your innate laziness are decent excuses.

Please note: This year there will be no online voting for the Sweet 16 – you must be present (and sample all contestants) in order to cast a ballot. We’ll let you know the details next week.

Here are the dates to remember:

Today: Preliminary seeding round is announced
Thursday, Nov 11: Official Brackets (Top 64) announced
Monday, Nov 15: Round of 32 announced
Thursday, Nov 18: Sweet 16 announced

And with that out of the way, here is the complete list of this year's Pizza Cup hopefuls, in their respective brackets (numbers in parentheses indicate their final ranking in the 2020 Cup; "New" indicates new venue or new to the list):

Bracket A
(1) BOTTEGA 意库
(5) Pie Squared 方派披萨
(9) Tube Station 站点比萨
(13) Pizza Marzano 比萨玛尚诺
(17) Kro's Nest 乌巢
(23) Domino's Pizza 达美乐比萨
(27) TIAGO Tiago
(31) Plan B
(35) Lily's American Diner 莉莉斯美式西餐厅
(39) Laker's 湖人餐吧
(44) Brotzeit 博璨德国啤酒餐厅（国贸）
(48) Assaggi 尝试意大利餐厅
(52) Via Roma·Kempinski Hotel 花样罗马意大利餐厅
(57) Jazz-Ya 爵士屋
(62) Peter Pan Peter Pan 意大利餐厅
(67) Nine Road Pizzeria 速度披萨
(72) Nasca Cafe
(76) Flypizza & Hoodadak Chicken
(81) Casalingo 卡萨琳戈
(86) Festin Table 佩斯汀西餐
(92) Sesto Senso Se 食巳意大利餐厅
(97) PBD Pizza Bar
(New) Citywalk Red Oven Pizza Bakery 城市大道火炉披萨烘焙坊
(New) Lets Seafood 非常创意海鲜（三里屯太古里店）

Bracket B
(2) Pizza Saporita 意块披萨
(6) GUNG HO! 叫板！比萨
(10) FORNO 意角
(14) Frasca
(18) Xian Bar (EAST Hotel, Beijing) 北京东隅仙酒吧
(24) Papa John's 棒约翰比萨
(28) Yummy Box 美盒比萨
(32) The Rug
(36) Mao Mao Chong 毛毛虫酒吧
(40) Tavola Italian Dining
(45) MIO, Four Seasons Hotel 北京四季酒店·MIO
(49) Mr. Pizza 米斯特披萨
(53) Ponte Ponte 意大利餐厅
(58) Grandma's Kitchen 祖母的厨房
(63) The Veggie Table 吃素的西餐
(68) QS 奎妮妙选
(73) Joe's by YONOVO
(78) Pinvita Pinvita 意大利美食集市
(82) POMONA 波莫娜咖啡厅
(88) Happy Bites 嗨派.纽约手工披萨
(93) Hisewel-Brew-pub 海森威精酿啤酒餐吧
(New) Volare
(New) Kitty&Daniel 大牛好莱坞餐吧（蓝色港湾）
(New) Riva 意岸

Bracket C
(3) Q Mex Bar & Grill 库迈墨西哥餐吧
(7) Annie's 安妮意大利餐厅
(11) La Pizza 那匹萨
(15) The Local
(19) Pizza Hut 必胜客
(25) Turkish Feast 西庭·秀色
(29) Green Cow City Cafe 单太太绿牛咖啡
(33) Saizeriya 萨莉亚意式餐厅
(37) MIAM MIAM 咪吖咪吖
(41) Tribe Tribe 有机餐厅
(46) LMPLUS
(50) Get Pizza 披萨工廠
(55) La Cucina 后厨意餐
(59) NBeer Pub 牛啤堂
(64) Bacchus Bistro 酒神食馆
(69) German Restaurant 甲丁坊.新德餐吧
(74) Passby Bar 过客
(79) Tomcado 花厨
(83) Byone 百万庄园
(90) Just in time 巨时比萨
(94) Atta BJ
(New) Commune Reserve
(New) Steam Pizza 蒸汽披萨（颐堤港店）
(New) Georgia's Feast 格鲁·秀色

Bracket D
(4) Great Leap Brewing 大跃啤酒
(8) Jing-A Brewing Co. 京A
(12) Pizza Show 披萨秀
(16) Pyro Pizza 火鬼餐吧
(20) Hulu 琥禄
(26) EATALIA 意塔利意式餐厅
(30) Paddy O'Shea's 爱尔兰酒吧
(34) The Cheesecake Factory 芝乐坊
(38) Big Pizza 比格比萨
(42) Scott's Family Ristorante Italiano 意大利家庭料理
(47) BUONA BOCCA 意大利小馆儿
(51) Eudora Station 亿多瑞站
(56) Legend 老牌餐吧
(61) Groovy Schillers 大明餐厅
(66) Agrilandia
(70) Pizza Now 披萨到
(75) La Mezzaluna 伴月意大利餐厅
(80) Bene 班妮意大利餐厅
(85) CHAPTER, CONRAD BEIJING CHAPTER
(91) Olive Restaurant and Bar 橄榄餐吧
(95) CUP ONE
(New) LA PLATEA 兰蒂地中海餐厅
(New) Very Sport 意大利餐吧

So what are you waiting for? Go out, gorge, and may the best slice win!