Crooked Tale Gastropub holds grand opening

CRESTVIEW — Crooked Tale Gastropub opened the doors to their new business on Thursday.
The gastropub, located at 5206 S. Ferdon Boulevard, will offer a soft menu for the first week but will then upgrade to a full menu.
“We wanted to do something different and kind of provide a more upscale scene,” the gastropub’s general manager Megan Tootle said. “Everything is made in house. We’re kind of considered a scratch kitchen.”
Tootle describes the theme of the gastopub as incorporating mob-type, prohibition era decorations with a speak easy vibe.
Tootle said that while some might think the gastropub is a bar scene, that is not true and kids are always welcome at the restaurant.
Every night, the gastropub offers different activities. Activities include open mic night, karaoke night and nightly games on the patio including giant-sized Jenga and Connect Four.
When it comes to food, the gastropub offers items such as wings, burgers and tacos, as well as an array of craft beers and specialty drinks.
“We felt like we were the only place in Crestview that had mostly craft beers so we definitely wanted to bring that to Crestview,” Tootle said.
The gastropub has their own in-house beer called the Crooked Tale Flying Dutchman. The drink is used in some of the food recipes, including the beer cheese for the pretzel appetizer.
The signature drink, the name of the gastropub and its slogan “Where the tale never ends,” stem from the disappearance of the owner’s mother in 1976. The disappearance occurred while she was sailing with three others on a boat called The Flying Dutchman.
“They went out on the boat and the boat along with the people vanished and there’s never been a finished story to that,” Tootle said. “There was a lot of controversial theories about what happened to them. There has been other sightings of the boat but it is a crooked tale because no one knows what happened.”