Strange-bird is a counter-service restaurant that started as a food cart, now set up with a handful of tables inside and out front on SE Clinton Street. The approach is fast-casual in format but slow food in spirit, with a stated focus on sustainable sourcing and cooking without fixed rules.
The menu changes weekly and pulls from wherever it wants to — Chicago-style beef on brioche toast, Nikkei-style Chanterais melon "ceviche" with bonito flakes, and a duck confit pot pie have all made appearances. The wood-fired oven turns out 14-inch "neo-Neapolitan" pizzas with thin, bubbly, blistered crusts, topped with whatever's seasonal — green tomatoes and pimento cheese one week, delicata squash and purple scallions with tamari drizzle the next.
The menu changes weekly and pulls from wherever it wants to — Chicago-style beef on brioche toast, Nikkei-style Chanterais melon "ceviche" with bonito flakes, and a duck confit pot pie have all made appearances. The wood-fired oven turns out 14-inch "neo-Neapolitan" pizzas with thin, bubbly, blistered crusts, topped with whatever's seasonal — green tomatoes and pimento cheese one week, delicata squash and purple scallions with tamari drizzle the next.