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…