SARAH WEL C H THE BENEFACTOR

Executive Chef

Marrow

Detroit’s modern-day neighborhood butcher shop and restaurant hybrid

“I definitely hated it,” she said about competing on the TV show. “I work in a highly collaborative kitchen, and what makes the food at Marrow really exceptional is not me — it’s all the people that aren’t me. I missed the collaboration I have [at Marrow] so much. I’m a ‘we’ person. I’m not really a ‘me’ person.”

Located on Detroit’s east side, Marrow prides itself on local collaboration. The restaurant sources meat from Michigan farms with ethical butchering practices and produce grown at Detroit urban farms like Coriander Farm, Rising Pheasant Farms and Keep Growing Detroit (see Page 58). In Marrow’s kitchen, Welch is committed to teamwork where everyone’s input is valued — something she didn’t always experience as a young chef. Reflecting on her early career, Welch recalled that no one wanted to hear her opinions. “Kitchens are often top-down like dictatorships, and so I really wanted to create a democratic experience. Running a kitchen, for me, is trying to figure out how to shepherd people in the direction I feel like we should go but also keeping in mind that I had a lot of opinions when I was in their position. I want to be the benefactor of the people around me, not a scary overlord.”

For Welch, this means admitting when she’s wrong and that her method isn’t always the best. This attitude seems rare for a James Beard Award-nominated chef, but it’s how she likes it. “I don’t think my workplace is average. I think it’s very odd,” she said with a laugh. “But I like that people that work for me or work with me feel comfortable telling me that I’m wrong. I like that I’m given space to be wrong and time to grieve that ‘being wrong’ feeling.”

At Marrow, women run the show. With founder Ping Ho and Welch at the helm, the restaurant is creating a space where women can be seen and heard.

“It’s as beautiful as it is obnoxious,” Welch said about working at the woman-led restaurant. “We have a power squad at Marrow with some really awesome women and leadership, and I don’t know how it happened. I wanted to foster a place where I felt heard. Maybe that’s part of the reason why we tend to collect women because we are giving them a space where their opinion does matter, and it’s hard to find that elsewhere. And we’re doing that not just for our leadership but for people who work for us outside leadership roles. So it’s instilling in a younger generation that there are places where you do matter.”

Welch was raised between Michigan and Jamaica and attended New York’s French Culinary Institute. She moved back to Detroit to work with celebrated chef Brian Polcyn at what was then called Forest Grill, a modern European restaurant in Birmingham, after being fed up with New York’s “dog eat dog” mentality. Prior to working at Marrow, Welch helped open Republic Tavern with Kate Williams and wound up leading the kitchen after Williams’ departure. Welch was also executive chef at the restaurant’s sister diner, Parks & Rec, for a time.

After years of experience being overworked in male-dominated kitchens, Welch and the Marrow team are hoping to create an industry standard where people are valued over profits.

“I remember being required to work 80 hours, but I was only allowed to clock 40 of them,” she said.

“Sometimes I slept in my car — true trauma story — so I knew I definitely didn’t want people in a position where they were not getting paid for their work. In opening Marrow, we wanted to curb turnover and mitigate the burnout that was happening in the industry. That was pre-COVID, and it’s still an issue.”

On Top Chef, Welch was sent home in episode four of her season but dominated Last Chance Kitchen, a gauntlet-style companion show where eliminated chefs fight for a chance to rejoin the main competition. Welch won Last Chance Kitchen, making her way to the Top Chef finale where she ultimately lost. She’s fine with that. The scrappy spirit and collaborative mindset she exhibited on the show are part of what makes Marrow a Detroit gem.

Rare Opportunity

When celebrated food activist Alice Waters was invited to The Henry Ford in September 2022, leadership wanted to make sure the iconic chef’s latest trip to metro Detroit was more than memorable. The Henry Ford and its Carver-Carson Society were set to honor Waters with their inaugural Carver-Carson Society Award at the first-ever Carver-Carson Moveable Feast, a private event held in Greenfield Village (see story on Page 16). The night before that feast, Waters and her sister enjoyed a special farm-to-table dinner experience at Mongers’ Provisions in Berkley. The culinary outfitter is known for its fine cheeses, craft chocolate and charcuterie. The intimate meal was prepared, at the request of The Henry Ford, by none other than Marrow’s executive chef, Sarah Welch. She partnered with Will Werner and Zach Berg, Mongers’ Provisions proprietors, to pair wine and cheeses with her farm-to-table dishes that featured an array of local fresh produce and ingredients. As a further complement, local master class sourdough bread baker Max Leonard served up some of his specialty breads.

cChef Sarah Welch, shown here cooking and plating spring vegetable ricotta gnocchi with local rabbit confit, fava beans and rhubarb, takes great pride in knowing that the people who work in her kitchen at Marrow have a voice and understand that everyone’s input is valued.

RESEARCH Some of the Detroit urban farms that executive chef Sarah Welch works with to source the menu at Marrow: Coriander Farm and Rising Pheasant Farmscc

ONLINE Learn more about Marrow’s butcher shop and restaurantc