After a brief run as a food cart, Strange Bird has landed in a permanent home in Southeast Portland. The restaurant opened Friday, June 12, next door to Rhinestone near Ladd’s Addition, converting a long-vacant former pizza shop into a neighborhood restaurant focused
on seasonal pizzas, shared plates, and New American, Italian-leaning, wine-friendly food.
Owner Tyler Robb, originally from Indiana, spent roughly a decade cooking in Oakland and San Francisco before moving to Portland. In the Bay Area, he worked in several pizzerias and wood-fired kitchens, including Oakland’s Boot and Shoe Service, the pizzeria later renamed Sister, while also cooking broader seasonal menus rooted in California cuisine.
While the original Strange Bird cart built a following in the Alley on Division, the project struggled to gain visibility behind contemporary wine bar Someday, which serves its own food. Robb ultimately closed the cart and shifted to a series of pop-ups around Portland, a move that helped introduce Strange Bird to a wider audience. “I was making way more sales, and I was meeting people from all around Portland,” Robb says. “I was getting my name out there more.”
The pop-up circuit helped Robb build a network of industry contacts, some of whom would later play key roles in bringing the restaurant to life. “My contractor was a recommendation from the folks at Imperial Bottle Shop,” Robb says. “The dude that did my tables and my back bar works at Beer Mongers.” By the time Strange Bird found a permanent home, much of the restaurant had been shaped by people Robb met hopping from one pop-up to the next.
The new restaurant expands on the original format. Robb describes the food as Mediterranean-leaning and heavily driven by seasonality, with produce sourced from local farms and purveyors. While he refers to the pizzas as “neo-Neapolitan,” the style is informed as much by his Indiana upbringing as his years cooking in Bay Area pizzerias: thin, chewy, crisp, and sauced edge-to-edge. The dough is made with flour from Cairnspring Mills, while cheeses come from both Cowbell and Grande. The goal, he says, is “seasonal flavors that aren’t super manipulated.”
That philosophy extends beyond the pizzas. Robb says he’s currently excited about sourcing from Sauvie Island Growers, whose herbs and greens have already begun shaping the menu. While items change daily, recent offerings have included seasonal pizzas alongside dishes like Persian cucumber toast with chickpea spread and basil on house-baked focaccia, honey-brined chicken with mustard greens and green peppercorn vinaigrette, and fava beans dressed with jamón serrano and green garlic vinaigrette.
Lunch service is expected to roll out soon, with rotating sandwiches on the aforementioned focaccia. One early idea pairs serrano ham with stracciatella and a salted grapefruit jam from McMinnville producer Alchemist’s Jam. Robb aims to keep the sandwiches below $10, an especially affordable price for a lunch in Portland.
Until the restaurant’s liquor license arrives, likely in early July, Strange Bird is serving a small selection of nonalcoholic beverages including wildflower limeade, black cherry soda, and mandarino soda. Once approved, Robb plans to add draft beer, wine, amaro, and a concise cocktail menu built around batched classics like Negronis and martinis. A chilled, bubbly Lambrusco will likely have a permanent place on the menu; “I always want to have a Lambrusco on,” Robb says.
Strange Bird is open Wednesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 2114 Southeast Clinton Street.
