Top Gun Fan Craze Fuels Gluten-Free Pie Mania

Celiac.com 07/20/2022 - Remember that story we did on the original Top Gun house getting turned into Tara Lazar’s new bakery, The Famous High-Pie, a beachfront gluten-free pie shop at the Mission Pacific Hotel in Oceanside?

Turns out those guys are killing it! It seems the fan craze over the latest “Top Gun” release has that little Oceanside bakery selling nearly two-thousand hand pies a day! Talk about the little pie house that could!

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“I am in awe a little bit of the reaction,” Lazar told reporters. “I knew people really liked Top Gun, but I didn’t realize how much they liked Top Gun. We sell out of pies every day — we’re trying to not have to close down early each day — but we’re selling 1,500 to 1,800 pies a day."

Since opening, the line out the door has been pretty much a constant for Lazar’s little pie shop; they’ve been selling out early since they opened for business. Lines of at least fifty people are cued up in front are not unusual on weekdays, and that can easily double on weekends. 

The gluten-free hand pies at High-Pie are great, but they don't account for the overwhelming reaction. In addition to those tasty gluten-free hand pies, a big part of the attraction seems to be fan mania around Tom Cruise and the new Top Gun film.

In the original film, of course, the home belongs to Tom Cruise’s love interest, flight instructor Charlie, played by Kelly McGillis. Best part? It wasn't planned as part of the film release, or some other calculated marketing plan. It was just blind luck. 

While Lazar enjoys a good reputation for her restaurants like Cheeky’s, Birba and Mr. Lyons in Palm Springs. High-Pie is one of two new eateries she’s opened in Mission Pacific Hotel in the last year, the other being the casual cafe High/Low. 

Both are doing well, but High-Pie, like the Top Gun sequel, is crushing it. “It’s obviously so fortuitous for the sequel to come out now, and for it to be so great — it feels really good, says Lazar."

 If you plan to be in Oceanside and want to brave the crowd for a memorable gluten-free pie experience, be sure to check out High-Pie in front of the Mission Pacific Hotel in Oceanside, California.

Read more at InsideHook.com