Fork in the Road: Thunderbirds Grille boasts pride in its community and great food

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - The owners of Vikings Grille have expanded into Topeka’s Lake Shawnee area with its newest restaurant, Thunderbirds Grille.

General Manager, Brady Barnes said, “We serve American style food, country fried steaks, Philly cheesesteaks, and cheeseburgers.”

Thunderbirds Grille thrives on sports with TV’s surrounding the restaurant and beer on tap, but its name has a bigger meaning.

“We have Vikings Grille up north, that’s the Seaman community, and so we wanted to get involved with the Shawnee Heights community,” Barnes said. “We opened Thunderbirds Grille, obviously, Shawnee Heights is the Thunderbirds and so we thought that would incorporate good with the community.”

Cody Whitney is an assistant principal at Shawnee Height High School and a regular at Thunderbirds.

“We are really fortunate to have great partners in our community that want to work with our students and provide opportunities for them, either through sponsorships of activities or athletics, or through opportunities for them to come and get jobs here and contribute back to the community,” he said.

When asked what his favorite item on the menu is, Whitney said the wings, but mentioned the burgers and pizza are also really good.

However, Barnes said one of their most sold items on the menu are the pulled pork nachos.

“We basically slow smoke our pork for about 9 hours on the smoker and then we prepare it with chips, Whitey’s cheese dip, which is a favorite around here, and it comes with onions and shredded cheese,” he continued saying, “We then top it with a sweet barbecue sauce that is actually made locally from a lady up in Holton and so basically the only places in town that you can get it, as far as restaurants go, are Vikings and Thunderbirds.”

Barnes said overall they pride themselves on great food, customer service, and being part of the community.

“It is more than just going to get a bite to eat, we have camaraderie here,” he said. “People come here to have some drinks and dinner and talk to friends, see some people that they might not usually see. As opposed to going to Applebee’s, something like that, it’s more of a community restaurant.”

With a little over a year in business under their belt, customers hope to see Thunderbirds succeed.

“I hope that other people on this side of the town are supporting our local businesses as well,” said Whitney. “The more that we support them, the more that we can get and I think bringing opportunities to east Topeka is huge.”

Thunderbirds Grille is located at 2920 SE Croco Rd. across from the Bettis Sports complex. Their hours are 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. Friday and Saturday. You can find Thunderbirds full menu here.

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