Kansas City Barbeque – IAMNOTASTALKER

January 8, 2009February 13, 2009

Kansas City Barbeque – Back and Better Than Ever!

I thought I’d take a little break today from my NYC blogging – and yes, I do have many more Manhattan filming locations to write about 🙂 – to do a little post about an old favorite of mine – Kansas City Barbeque in San Diego, or as it is more commonly known, the Top Gun Bar. The restaurant, which suffered from a devastating fire on June 26th of last year, recently reopened this past November – just in time to serve up it’s annual free Thanksgiving dinner for active duty military. And I had yet to stalk the place since it’s grand reopening. So a few weeks ago, while in San Diego celebrating my best friend’s college graduation, I dragged my boyfriend out for a little post-fire stalking.

I am happy to report that despite the interior of the restaurant needing to be almost entirely redone due to smoke and fire damage, Kansas City Barbeque still looks pretty much the same as it did in Top Gun. Some of the changes that were made – the bar area was remodeled and altered slightly, skylights were added to the dining room, the kitchen was entirely rebuilt, and new exterior awnings were installed. But other than looking a bit shinier and newer, it’s still the same old Kansas City Barbeque we all knew and loved. 🙂 And I am very, very happy to report that much of the Top Gun memorabilia actually survived the fire, including Goose’s piano, which was actually owner Martin Blair’s childhood piano.

Some items that were sadly ruined in June’s fire? The many autographed headshots of celebs who had frequented KCBBQ in the past. A few stars were kind enough to send in replacement pics, though, after being contacted by Martin after the fire. How cool is that?? Brooke Shields, Andre Agassi, Richard Dean Anderson, a few Padres players, and Jerry Lewis all sent in new headshots to be placed on KCBBQ’s new walls. Ostensibly missing from the headshot wall, though, is Tom Cruise, who was apparently contacted for a new pic, but has yet to send one in. Personally I think that’s pretty darn crappy, especially since Maverick was the role that made him a star. But, hey, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because, despite his couch-jumping antics and Pro-Scientology rants, I still believe that deep down Tommy is a really nice guy. I just can’t help it. 🙂 I am guessing that Tom C. Ruz is a pretty hard guy to get ahold of and maybe his publicist just isn’t giving him KCBBQ’s message. So Tommy, if you’re out there, do the right thing and send your headshot to Kansas City Barbeque. While you’re at it, thrown in one of Katie and Suri, as well. 🙂 Other stars who have frequented the legendary restaurant include Lorenzo Llamas, Dennis Rodman, and Dallas’ Charlene Tilton.

I highly recommend stalking KCBBQ, even if you are not a Top Gun fan. The bar has a great atmosphere and serves us some fabulous food – especially the French fries. I ate an entire plate of them! Not kidding. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It:Kansas City Barbeque is located at 610 W. Market Street in Downtown San Diego.

October 21, 2008September 29, 2017

Kansas City Barbeque Is Back In Business – Just In Time For Halloween!

This weekend, I took a little vacay down to San Diego with my family. Of course, while there I had to do some stalking of the Top Gun Bar, aka Kansas City Barbeque, which sadly has been closed since June 26th of this year due to a major fire. I was very curious to see what the restaurant looked like since the devastating fire took place and what progress, if any, had been made on the restoration of the property.

I was actually shocked to see that the restaurant actually looked pretty good! I was expecting complete devastation, but I am happy to report that, from the outside, the place looks pretty much the same as it did before the fire, despite a few scorch marks.

While we were outside taking photographs, one of the staff members walked over to talk with us. He really could not have been nicer and he even showed us some photographs and newspaper articles about the fire. And he gave us the good news that, while the restaurant probably won’t be open for regular business until mid-November, there will be a Halloween party held there on October 31st! Not only is that great news, but it also allowed me to tie KCBBQ in with my Halloween theme for this month! 🙂

He told us that the kitchen area, which is located towards the rear of the restaurant and which is where most of the fire damage occurred, has already been entirely rebuilt. The interior seating area suffered mostly just smoke damage, and sadly much of the Top Gun memorabilia was lost, including the juke box where Kelly McGillis plays “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” in the closing scene of the movie. 🙁 But thankfully Goose’s piano was salvaged, as were most of the candid photographs taken by KCBBQ staff during the filming.

The owners are asking for replacement memorabilia at this time. They are looking for anything having to do with Top Gun, the military, Kansas City, or flying in general. You can send any memorabilia you wish to donate to the address listed below. They ask that you sign and date everything you donate.

I am glad to report, too, that through the disaster KCBBQ kept its sense of humor – at one point they even added the letter “D” to the their logo out front so that it read “Kansas City Barbequed”. LOL I truly can’t wait for this San Diego (and Hollywood, for that matter) landmark to re-open. Until that time, if you happen to be in the area on Halloween, be sure to stop by KCBBQ. Tickets are $20 per person, but include all the alcohol you can drink.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kansas City Barbeque is located at 610 W. Market Street in San Diego. The restaurant will hopefully re-open for regular business in mid-November. For more information you can visit their website.

June 30, 2008February 13, 2009

Sad Day for Stalkers!

Sad news!! Tony just posted a comment on my Top Gun Bar post letting me know that a fire destroyed Kansas City Barbeque, aka the Top Gun Bar, this past Thursday afternoon. This has NOT been a good month for fires and filming locations – first Universal and now this. 🙁 At approximately 2:15PM on Thursday, a fire broke out in an open fire pit in the kitchen area and quickly spread throughout the rest of the restaurant. Even though firefighters had the blaze put out in twenty minutes, most of the restaurant had already been gutted. The owners of Kansas City Barbeque did manage to save Goose’s piano, as well as some other Top Gun memorabilia, but most of the restaurant is sadly gone. They do plan to rebuild, but I can’t help feeling like a piece of movie history has been lost. 🙁 Such a sad day for stalkers!!

You can read the whole story on the fire here and here. You can also watch a news video which shows footage of the restaurant here.

June 19, 2008February 13, 2009

"Goose, You Big Stud . . . "

No self-respecting stalker can take a trip to San Diego without visiting Kansas City Barbecue, which is more commonly known as the “Top Gun Bar”. Kansas City Barbeque was actually featured twice in the 1986 Tom Cruise flick. It first shows up in the scene where Goose and Maverick serenade Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan with “Great Balls of Fire” and Meg Ryan utters her famous line “Goose, you big stuuuuuud! Take me to bed now or lose me forever!” It also appears in the very final scene of the movie, where Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis reunite while “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” plays on the jukebox in the background. (Yes, that jukebox is still there!) 🙂

Even though Top Gun was filmed over 20 years ago, fans still flock to the tiny bar on a regular basis. I’ve even seen huge tour buses pull up out front on occasion. All of the bartenders there are extremely nice and will tell you all sorts of stories about the filming of the movie. The place would definitely be considered a dive bar, but it serves up some GREAT food in a super fun atmosphere. Sitting there, you might wonder how in the heck Kansas City Barbeque wound up in one of the biggest movies of the 80’s. Apparently, location scouts were out and about searching San Diego for filming locations for Top Gun and they stopped into Kansas City Barbeque for a cold beer and some lunch. They ended up loving the place so much, they brought director Tony Scott back there for lunch and he wound up featuring it in the movie. The rest, as they say, is history.

Goose’s piano and the jukebox can still be found in the Top Gun Bar, although they have been moved from where they stood during filming. There are tons of photographs and other movie memorabilia located throughout the restaurant – it’s a Top Gun museum of sorts. You will for sure recognize it from the movie as soon as you walk in the door and you’ll probably get the urge to sit down at Goose’s piano and play “Great Balls of Fire”. 🙂 Kansas City Barbeque is a super fun place to spend an afternoon or an evening and I highly recommend stalking it! It has also been voted “Best BBQ in San Diego” for ten years in a row.

Note – my pictures of the Top Gun Bar are extremely old! I couldn’t find my more recent ones. But trust me, the bar looks pretty much the same as it did over ten years ago when my pictures were taken. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kansas City Barbeque is located at 610 West Market Street in Downtown San Diego, just across the street from Seaport Village. You can visit the bar’s website here. After hanging out at the Top Gun Bar head across the street to Seaport Village, a cute little outdoor shopping center right on the water. Edgewater Grill, located in Seaport Village, is an excellent place for dinner!