After “Top Chef” and Two Acclaimed Restaurants, Detroit Chefs Eye Next Adventure: Traverse City

Two of Detroit’s buzziest chefs are setting up shop in Traverse City. Sarah Welch – Top Chef finalist, partner/executive chef at Marrow, and co-founder of Mink – announced this week that she and husband Cameron Rolka (executive chef at Mink) are relocating to northern Michigan to open a restaurant on Front Street in 2026. Welch spoke with The Ticker about the duo’s concept, what drew them to Traverse City, and why she believes northern Michigan is on the precipice of a culinary “renaissance.”

Welch announced Tuesday she’ll step down this month as chef at Marrow, the acclaimed Detroit restaurant and butcher shop she helped launch in 2018. Marrow was a James Beard Foundation semi-finalist for Best New Restaurant in the country in 2019, with Welch nominated three times in the Best Chef in the Great Lakes category – making it as far as finalist. She competed on Top Chef in the 2022 Houston season and was one of three finalists to make the finale. A Michigan State University graduate, Welch trained at the International Culinary Center in New York and was inspired to become a chef based on her experiences growing up part-time in Jamaica.

Rolka – who has worked in numerous high-profile restaurants, including the 3-Michelin star Martin Berasategui in Spain – will stay on a while longer as chef at Mink, an oyster bar and restaurant in Corktown. The Detroit Free Press named Mink one of its Best New Restaurants in 2020. While the couple will retain ownership stakes in both Detroit establishments, they’re ready to focus on their next adventure: Traverse City.

The duo has signed a purchase agreement for 430 East Front Street, currently home to Pure Essence Salon. The couple is still finalizing financing, but assuming things go as planned, they hope to close the deal and gradually build out the space ahead of an opening next year. Vicki Biddinger and Heidi Hallett, partners at Pure Essence Salon and co-building owners, have been at the property for over 30 years. Biddinger tells The Ticker she’s starting to plan for her future retirement, so the partners decided to list the property and move the salon to another location. Biddinger emphasizes that Pure Essence Salon isn’t closing or being sold. The salon will share its new location with customers as soon as the property purchase is finalized, Biddinger says. “We’ve always loved it, we’ve been there a long time,” she says. “But we’re excited about (the move), too.”

Welch says the concept for the new restaurant is a “hybridized version of Marrow and Mink.” That includes seafood and a raw bar – “I think every city needs a good oyster bar,” Welch says – with highlights like tinned fish, caviar, and lobster rolls. Welch’s butchery background will also be showcased with meat and protein features – though she says Rolka will take the culinary lead. “I have had a very public culinary career, but his talent is more underspoken,” she says. “He’s my favorite chef. We’re certainly trying to showcase what he can do.” Welch says the restaurant will be intimate and small, similar to Mink – approximately 25 seats.

Welch and Rolka have been regular visitors to Traverse City and have ties to the local restaurant industry. Welch says she met her Marrow butcher at Pigstock, a popular fundraising cookout The Cooks’ House participated in. Both Welch and Rolka count The Cooks’ House co-owner Jen Blakeslee as a friend, having assisted her with private catering gigs in Colorado. Blakeslee says she’s “very happy” Welch is joining the Traverse City restaurant scene, adding: “She is super talented and will bring a new set of flavors to TC.”

Avid outdoor enthusiasts, Welch and Rolka come to northern Michigan “all the time just to appreciate the area and be supporters of the food and beverage scene,” Welch says. “We can sense something happening there. It’s on the precipice of a renaissance, and it feels like there's room for more diversity in the food being offered. We love being there and having access to the farming community and being close to where the products are raised. It's a more holistic lifestyle.”

Welch’s long-term dream is to own an “immersive culinary destination on some plot of land where we can host people overnight” – a description that raises comparisons to Milkweed Inn in the Upper Peninsula. But as chefs in their thirties – even those who’ve experienced considerable success – the realities of the market still require baby steps, Welch says. Even trying to find a space to lease for a restaurant was a formidable experience.

“The leasing market is insane in Traverse City,” Welch says. “I can’t understand how any of these mom and pops are surviving. We’re not paying anywhere close to that in Detroit.” As has been the case with others in the new generation of downtown restaurateurs – who are increasingly purchasing buildings from long-time departing owners, from Lil Bo to Green House Café to U&I Lounge – Welch believes that buying “is the only way to have a viable business. The only equity you have is owning your space.”

In the case of 430 East Front Street, it helps that the space comes with an upstairs living unit – solving another thorny problem (housing) when Welch and Rolka move to Traverse City. The unit can also provide an additional revenue stream as an Airbnb in the future. Ahead of the restaurant opening, Welch says she plans to work at a variety of northern Michigan restaurants and hospitality businesses over the summer to gain more front-of-house experience and build local relationships.

Traverse City Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Harry Burkholder says he’s “thrilled to welcome another independent restaurant of this caliber to Front Street.” New restaurants not only serve food, they also become a “reflection of the community and a gathering place for people to connect,” Burkholder says. He acknowledges that rising lease rates have pushed some restaurants out of downtown, with those spaces then converted to retail or office.

“Once the kitchen is removed, it becomes significantly more difficult and costly for that space to be returned to restaurant use in the future,” he says. “That’s why it’s especially encouraging to hear that the new owner is purchasing the building. Ownership will provide greater long-term stability and viability for the restaurant, which is a win for both the business and the community.”

Andy Elliott of Modern Bird navigated similar challenges when he opened his restaurant on West Front Street in 2022. Elliott ultimately became part of an investment team that purchased the building where Modern Bird is located; he essentially now pays rent to himself every month. Having gone through the process, Elliott – who has been talking with Welch and Rolka about their transition to Traverse City – is willing to pay it forward with any knowledge he can share. “We had a lot of help when we opened,” he says. “That’s a nice part of the industry. They’re going to be a competitor, but we’re also all in the same boat, so we help each other out.”

Photo credit: Taylor Higgins