Watch: Denver Pastry Chef Chocolatina Delivers in Drag
Professional pastry chef and drag performer Chocolatina, Queen of the Dessert, is helping Denver residents beat the COVID-19 blues with sweet treats and live serenades, NBC News reports.
Chocloatina is the drag name of Martin Howard, who, at seven feet in height, cuts an impressive figure - never more so than when he dons his Chocolatina attire, complete with a high blonde wig. Formerly a pastry chef at New York eateries like Rainbow Room and Brasserie 8, Howard moved to Denver a few years ago and started working in catering, but he had to get extra-creative when COVID-19 put a crimp in business.
Speaking with local news station KUSA, an NBC affiliate, Howard related how he stuck on the idea of delivering pies in drag.
"In July, he posted a picture of a raspberry-rhubarb pie he made for some friends on Facebook, and the response was overwhelming," NBC News summarized. "That's when inspiration struck.
" 'I'm going to be a drag queen and sell pie,' Howard said."
And that is precisely what he does, wheeling his pies and a portable sound system in a red Radio Flyer wagon (within safe socially distant proximity) to recipients' homes and delivering musical greetings to go along with the baed goods. He charges $100 for a package that includes two pies, two quiches, a live performance, and Chocolatina's signature glamour.
"Pie is a comfort food, and in these times people are definitely craving comfort food," Howard told KUSA.
His tasty ministrations smack of more metropolitan fare; as NBC News noted, there's "a growing trend of drag queen delivery during the pandemic, one that includes the 'Meals on Heels' program from San Francisco's Oasis nightclub and Sunday 'drag-livery' from Fresca's Cantina in Queens, New York."
" 'For me, it's great, because I've got a live audience no matter how small. They are just starved for entertainment, because there is no live entertainment anymore,' he told KUSA. 'It's just a win-win for everyone. It makes them happy, it makes me happy — there's pie, and that makes people happy, as well.' "
Howard's pie in the Mile High city deliveries take place on Saturdays, with a menu of the week's available selections posted to Facebook, NBC News noted.
Clickl here to see the KUTV news clip shared by NBC News.