Courtyard 4 Carnage: The Local, Home Plate Ousted From 2016 Burger Cup

This year’s Battle of the Buns may have just witnessed the most consequential of cuts yet, with two of Sanlitun's Courtyard 4 Burger Barons getting axed: Last year's runner-up The Local was ousted by 6-seed Feast and perennial 1-seed Home Plate was shoved out by 5-seed Fatboy's The Burger Bar.

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

We're now down to eight burgers from an initial field of 97. The competition is intense and the choices are increasingly difficult to call: 2015's champ Slow Boat goes up against Union Bar & Grille in Bracket A; Bracket B's top seed Great Leap Brewing #12 Brewpub goes up against Plan B; Bracket C Fatboy's The Burger Bar takes on Q Mex; and blue frog faces off against sixth-seed Feast.

If you haven't tried these burgers, now's the time to try as no matter what your choice, you'll be chowing down on a Top 10 burger.

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

Below is a full recap of the Sweet Sixteen:

Bracket A
Slow Boat (1) sailed by Café Flatwhite
Union Bar & Grille (2) narrowly avoided an upset by Ahava (6)

Bracket B
Great Leap Brewing #12 Brewpub marched past Luga's Villa (4)
Plan B (3) ousted Let's Burger (2)

Bracket C
Fatboy's The Burger Bar (5) stunned Home Plate (1)
Q Mex (2) squeezed by Katchup (3)

Bracket D
Blue Frog (1) bested Jing-A (4)
Feast (Food By EAST) (6) devoured The Local (2)

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

• Elite Eight: Open now; closes noon Wednesday, June 15.
  (Click here to cast your Elite Eight Burger Ballot)
• Final Four: Opens 4pm Wednesday, June 15; closes noon Friday, June 17.
• Championship Round: Opens 4pm Friday, June 17; closes noon Monday, June 20.

We also asked you last round which burger chains you most wish had a presence in Beijing. The vast majority of you replied "None of the Above," demonstrating that Beijing don't need none of your fast food burgers. But those pining for home missed these burger chains the most:

1. In-N-Out Burger
2. Wendy's
3. Five Guys
4. Arby's
5. White Castle
6. Carl's Jr.
7. Hungry Jack's
8. Jollibee
9. Hardee's

Finally, as is our custom, last round we asked you to rank the burgers that did not make it on to the Round of 16. This ranking now serves as their final standings in the 2016 Burger Cup:

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

They join our previous rankings from the last round:

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