Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Final Four in the 2016 Pizza Cup: Gung Ho, Annie's, Bottega, and Kro's

Scott DeVoy Su | Oct 31, 2016 4:40 pm | Add a comment | 2041 reads

Melted cheese has splattered the walls of the Pizza Cup bracket this time around as our eight remaining pizza hopefuls have been reduced to the 2016 Final Four.

New world pizzas were the victors in Brackets A and D: Gung Ho! and its hip Kiwi take on pizza edged out the Italian tradition of La Pizza in the closest voting to date. Meanwhile, in Bracket D a newly resurgent American-style Kro's Nest knocked out the classic Italian-style Eatalia.

However, it was the more Italian stylings of Bottega and Annie's that propelled these two to victory in the other two remaining brackets: Annie's took on giant Tube Station and came up with a victory, while Bottega knocked out top-seeded brewmeisters Great Leap #45.

Our Final Four matchups once again pit old world vs new, with Gung Ho! facing off against Annie's and Bottega matching pies with Kro's Nest for the right to see who will be crowned Beijing's favorite pizza joint.

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

The full Elite Eight results:

Bracket A: Gung Ho! (1) overcame La Pizza (3)
Bracket B: Annie's (1) derailed Tube Station (2)
Bracket C: Bottega (2) bounced Great Leap #45 (1)
Bracket D: Kro's Nest (1) swooped past Eatalia (6)

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

Thursday, Nov 3: Final Four voting closes at 2pm; Championship match announced at 4pm
Monday, Nov 7: Announcement of the champion of the 2016 Pizza Cup

Last round, we asked you what you considered a reasonable price to pay for a standard 12-inch pizza in Beijing. The overall response average was RMB 64, with a few high rollers (11 percent) willing to pay RMB 90 or more, and a penny-pinching group of anchor consumers (15 percent) saying anything over RMB 40 was highway robbery. The sweet spot for a 12-inch pie seems to be between RMB 50 and RMB 60, with a full 25 percent of respondents replying that this is a reasonable price.

We also asked you about your favorite side dish with pizza, and the most popular was salad (35 percent), followed by chicken wings (30 percent), then a massive drop off before 10 percent noted french fries, 7 percent responded mozzarella sticks, and a paltry 3 percent said soup. A full 26 percent said that pizza needs nothing at all as a side dish, aside from beer or wine.

Lastly, before you head off to vote, we also asked you to tell us which of your favorites did not make the Elite Eight. Here's what you said, and this will serve as their final rankings in the 2016 Pizza Cup:

9. Pizza+
10. The Tree
11. Pie Squared
12. Pizza View by Opera Bombana
13. Q Mex
14. Tavola
15. The Local
16. Luga's Villa

They join the rest of the final rankings for 2016, from previous rounds:

17. Hutong Pizza
18. Pyro Pizza
19. Mao Mao Chong
20. Pizza Express
21. Yummy Box
22. Ramo
23. Tiago
24. Yellow Cab
25. Bocca Della Verita
26. Sureno
27. The Rug
28. Flypizza & Hoodakdak Chicken
29. Passby Bar
30. Tim's Texas BBQ
31. Grandma's Kitchen
32. Mio, Four Seasons Hotel
33. Pizza by LMPlus
34. Vineyard Café
35. New York Style Pizza
36. Papa John's Pizza
37. Domino's
38. Mr Pizza
39. Pizza Buona
40. The Irish Volunteer
41. Stuff'd
42. Pizza Hut
43. Nasca Cafe
44. Lakers
45. Lily's American Diner
46. Xian Bar
47. Alio Olio
48. Jazz-Ya
49. Scott's Family Ristorante Italiano
50. iFresh Pizza
51. VSports
52. Paddy O'Shea's
53. Fratelli Fresh
54. Mrs Shanen's / Green Cow Cafe
55. Park 17
56. Ahava Bistro + Café
57. Elisa's
58. Via Roma, Kempinski Hotel
59. Nine Road Pizzeria
60. Loft Eatalicious
61. The Veggie Table
62. Red House
63. 1st Floor
64. Pizza Factory
65. PBD Pizza Bar
66. Peter Pan
67. Casalingo
68. Pizza Maru
69. Michael’s Place
70. FA Cafe
71. Isola
72. Nanjie
73. Peter's Tex-Mex
74. Mixs Italian Grill
75. Whale's Pizza
76. Assaggi
77. Pizza Now
78. Frost
79. Prego, Westin Financial Street
80. Pomona
81. Charlie's
82. Ricci Café
83. Kitchen Igosso
84. Eudora Station Bar and Restaurant
85. Byone
86. Agrilandia
87. Bene
88. Ku Pizza