Arts & Entertainment
Baking in Bloomingdale
Sweets made to order at new family-owned business
A sampling of the array of baked goodies available at Grassroots Gourmet (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Tis the season for sweets, baked goods and holiday treats. If you’re letting your diet slide for a few weeks, then you might as well have some of the best tasting calories you can find.
The new bakery, Grassroots Gourmet (104 Rhode Island Ave NW) is here to help you with all your sweet cravings, creating the perfect dessert for your holiday party. It’s also the perfect place to grab a quick bite to help power you through a long day of holiday shopping.
Gay baker and co-owner Sara Fatell and her cousin Jamilyah Smith-Kanze opened Grassroots Gourmet Nov. 21, but have been operating a made-to-order business since 2009. When they started to outgrow that arrangement they began looking for a kitchen in the area that they could call their own. Both Smith-Kanze and Fatell say that “baking leads to sharing, it is comforting, delicious and helps build community by fostering communication,” and that’s why they chose their Bloomingdale neighborhood to open their storefront.
Most things at the bakery are a team effort although Fatell is the “baking expert” and Smith-Kanze is the “business expert.” Fatell is hoping Smith-Kanze takes on the roll of “dish washing expert as well.” Fatell started baking when she was a child with her mother and grandmother, and started experimenting with different ingredients and flavors as a stress reliever when she was working as a political organizer in college. Both love experimenting with flavors, which is evident when you look at the bakery case and see decadent creations like the Cardamom Chai cupcakes (which I recently served to guests at a dinner party to rave reviews). Other specialties include assorted whoopee pies, chocolate mint cookies and a pumpkin muffin with cream cheese filling and streusel top. When I stopped in to interview the owners, they were working on their newest holiday creation, Cranberry Ginger Rugelach.
The cranberry ginger rugelach was an idea that came to Smith-Kanze one day when she was washing dishes in the back of the store, so she yelled it over the nine foot dividing wall to Fatell and a new recipe was born. Being able to create new flavors and items is one of their favorite things to do and with the storefront their customers can come in and “try one of our creations that may have just premiered that morning.”
Fatell loves making pies for the holidays as well as perfect red velvet cakes, which look so festive. Smith-Kanze’s favorite holiday treat on the menu is the mini chocolate bourbon pecan pie, which she calls “cozy.” Other seasonal flavors you’ll find on the menu this holiday season include mint, cranberry, ginger and cinnamon. I particularly enjoyed the snicker doodle cupcake with delightfully smooth frosting and warm cinnamon flavors. I took huge bites of this cupcake between asking the bakers questions. Both Fatell and Smith-Kanze also love Kathy’s Cookies, which were recently renamed for their Aunt Kathy who lost her battle to cancer in October.
While the storefront creates new opportunities for these business partners, they’re still focused on the made to order aspect of baking. All cakes and pies are custom made. They’ll work with each client and create the desired flavor profile. I ordered my husband’s birthday cake with chocolate ganache filling and salted caramel frosting from Grassroots Gourmet and it was superb. Sometimes these personalized creations make their way onto the menu at the store, like the Ginger cupcake with three types of ginger (fresh, ground and candied) that Smith-Kanze created for a former boss’ engagement part.
Whether you want to stop in and grab an assortment of baked goods for your office holiday party or have a cake made especially to fit your themed Christmas Eve event, Grassroots Gourmet can help out. Both Fatell and Smith-Kanze are almost always in the store. My list of recommendations is far too long to include in this column, but every sweet morsel I have put in my mouth from this bakery has been divine.
Celebrity News
Fashion icon Bob Mackie dead at 87
Designing legend to all the divas, gone but not forgotten
To those still reeling from the loss of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, we have another queer icon to add to the In Memoriam of 2026: Bob Mackie. A designer known for being extra, before that was even a thing, has left us with a legacy of looks and an indelible mark on fashion.
The news broke on his Instagram account Monday, Sept. 14, with the message:
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Mr. Bob Mackie passed away today. He lived his 87 years to the fullest, fulfilling his dream of being a fashion and costume designer, which is all he ever wanted to do. His genius and extraordinary designs will live on forever, continuing to bring beauty into this world.” According to People magazine, he passed away in Palm Springs, Calif., due to pneumonia.
At 87, Mackie is the definitive designer for divas. Mackie has literally dressed them all, including Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Barbara Streisand, Dolly Parton, Tina Turner, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, and even RuPaul. He’s dressed film and television icons like Raquel Welch, Lynda Carter, Goldie Hawn, and Jennifer Lopez. It’s not just female divas; he’s also done many of Elton John’s famous costumes as well as David Bowie’s.
His first major mark was drawing the first design of Marilyn Monroe’s famous “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress. Next, he was an assistant to costume designer Ray Aghayan on “The Judy Garland Show.” The two would carry on a professional and romantic partnership for 50 years until Aghayan’s passing in 2011.
Mackie then went on to do all of the costumes for “The Carol Burnett Show,” creating an estimated 17,000 costumes for her show’s 11-year run. This gave him much critical acclaim and notoriety, making him a permanent fixture in the variety show market.
He became a frequent collaborator of Cher, having made her famous midriff-revealing Oscar gown, her “If I Could Turn Back Time” costume, and being her designer for her various television shows, including “The Sonny and Cher Show.” He even designed costumes for her Farewell Tour. The two are synonymous with him having lent his artistic sensibilities to give her a distinct look. Cher even said in 2024, “He helped me create a different me.”
Mackie has left his mark on fashion with a distinct style of glamorous, over-the-top looks. He received the monikers the “Sultan of Sequins,” the “Rajah of Rhinestones,” and the “Guru of Glitter” for challenging the line between costume and fashion with lots of fringe, flash, and over-the-top eye-catching elements. He’s managed to retain a presence not just in entertainment but in the fashion industry for decades. Most recently, one of his outfits was a major plot point for the final season of “Hacks.”
Mackie has received his share of awards and acknowledgments. In addition to dressing many people for the Oscars, he received three nominations, including dressing Diana Ross for “Lady Sings the Blues.” He won a Tony Award for “The Cher Show.” He won nine Emmy Awards and received 30 nominations for his prolific television work.
Luckily, Mackie’s life was celebrated before his passing, receiving various Lifetime achievement awards including the Geoffrey Beene CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award, being honored by the Television Hall of Fame, and receiving “RuPaul’s Drag Race”‘s Giving Us Life-time Achievement Award. He was the first guest judge on the popular series.
It’s clear that not only was Mackie talented, he was magical. He gave a bit of stardust to countless celebrities, luminaries, and public figures with looks that not only defied expectations but managed to be truly spectacular. He’s part of the glitz we think of when we think of Hollywood, and while often elaborate costumes, the shrewd fashion sense and elegance cannot be denied. Mackie will be missed, but his work lives on in the countless pieces still in circulation and forever captured on film and in media.
The 29th annual SMYAL Fall Brunch was held at the Marriott Marquis on Sunday, Sept. 13.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Books
Dolly Parton biography puts her hardships into context
‘Ain’t Nobody’s Fool’ a highly researched tome not to be missed
‘Ain’t Nobody’s Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton’
By Martha Ackmann
c.2026, St. Martin’s Press
$30/304 pages
Not too bright.
That’s what people once thought about you. Your language didn’t conform, you had your own sense of style, and you were ignorant about modern things and places and foods. But you were no dummy. You were different, and you had a secret: as in the new biography, “Ain’t Nobody’s Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton” by Martha Ackmann, you knew exactly where you were going.
When Avie Lee Owens and Lee Parton first married, they had the very basics: “two knives, two forks, two spoons, a skillet, a butcher knife, and an old iron kettle.” He was 17; she was 15. Babies came quick. The fourth one was named Dolly, after two great-aunts.
Almost from the time she could walk, Dolly sang. Before she was old enough to attend school, she wrote poetry, and she’d begun to notice rhythms and beats she could make with her fingers. As a schoolchild, she created her own musical instruments out of scraps, and she was eager to perform whenever anyone asked her – and they asked often, because Dolly Parton was a nice girl, and her sense of humor conveyed a warmth that drew people in.
Growing up in the Tennessee mountains, Parton was independent, shunning marriage and child-raising, instead focusing on a dream of being a star. By the time she was in high school, she’d had a regular gig on local television but she recognized that there were few opportunities for fame in the mountains, so she left for Nashville the day after high school graduation, with the snickers of naysayers ringing in her ears.
She stayed with an aunt and uncle there, and she beat the streets, dined on grocery store samples to get by, and missed her family and friends. And they worried about her, but they knew nothing would derail her plans. They knew Dolly would be fine.
As a friend said, “’She had her head on pretty good.’”
Chances are that if you’ve listened to music any time in the last 60 years, you’ve heard Dolly Parton through her words or her music or both. Now you need to learn more about her, and “Ain’t Nobody’s Fool” is where to do it.
Here’s a biography that grabs you on the first page with the tiniest bit of family tree, but not so much that you get bored with it. Author Martha Ackmann writes about Dolly Parton’s early life, putting hardships and experiences in context, both personally and historically. There are name-drops, but not overly so, as Ackmann takes you through Parton’s career, her heartbreaks, her marriage, and her years with Porter Wagoner, in detail but not dramatically embellished or outrageously told. It’s a biography that’s just right, sourced well and written with a fresh take that, like its subject, tells a good story.
Fans, of course, will want this highly researched book but music lovers of any age or type will eat it up. That means you, so use up that Christmas gift certificate. “Ain’t Nobody’s Fool” just shines.
The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.
New Hungarian government to scrap anti-LGBTQ adoption law
Fashion icon Bob Mackie dead at 87
Transgender woman killed in Barclay community mourned by friends, advocates
Dozens detained after Turkish authorities raid LGBTQ groups, businesses
PHOTOS: SMYAL Fall Brunch
PHOTOS: SUNFESTIVAL
How Dolly became a folk saint for Appalachian queers
Remembering the LGBTQ heroes of 9/11 terrorist attacks
Report: 90 percent of LGBTQ groups around the world have lost funding since 2025
