Thunderbird Opens on Foster Road With Vegan Barbecue and Late-Night Patio

Adjoining Foster Burger, Thunderbird is the eighth bar from the Lighting Bar Collective (Jackknife, Century Bar) and opens tomorrow at 5339 SE Foster Rd. Thunderbird brings something new to the FoPo neighborhood: A menu with plenty of vegan barbecue options, including several featuring faux meats from Portland’s beloved vegan barbecue spot, Homegrown Smoker. The 1000-square-foot patio also stays open until 2 a.m.

LBC co-founder John Janulis tells Eater Thunderbird will operate daily from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., welcoming the kiddos until 8 p.m. The bar is roughly 1000 square feet, featuring a full bar with a focus on boilermaker specials. Happy hour runs 4 to 6 p.m. daily, with dollar-off burgers, beers, and well drinks. All of the food will come from Foster Burger’s kitchen through a window into Thunderbird (see the full menu below).

The project has been a team effort involving LBC co-founders Janulis and Liam Duffy, as well as LBC’s lead carpenter, Chris Balash; Mickey Reyes from Cat’s Paw; and Nick Musso from Dig A Pony (Musso’s also opening the Jupiter Hotel’s new bar and restaurant). But leading the project are Nate VanDeventer and Mike Mellow, who were both managers at Matador back in the day.

“The Bye and Bye has long been one of my favorite bars in town,” says VanDeventer, “so Thunderbird will be very reminiscent of it. It’s what we consider a neighborhood bar.”

Courtesy of Thunderbird

Kari Young

• Thunderbird [Instagram]