Detroit food pop-up takes top 3 in Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race competition

(CBS DETROIT) – The thrilling race to the finish line of Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race” is down to three contestants, and one of them is Khana, a Pakistani food pop-up from Detroit.

Maryam Khan is the head chef for Khana. She says her culinary career started to cook when she began messing with her mother’s recipes growing up.

“I grew up in a Pakistani household. Both of my parents are immigrants to the country, and I grew up eating everything that they ate back home,” Khan says.

It took years of hard work, but now, Khan’s food is so fire, she is making chefs like Tyler Florence say “holy sh*t” just after one bite of her South Asia Southern Fried Chicken.

“The experience was the coolest, most emotionally draining, yet rewarding experience of my entire life,” Khan says.

She might have came to the competition as a rookie, but Khan says she learned quickly that she is just as capable as the food truck pros.

“It just dawned on me that I was ready and that I was one of these professionals who I was standing next to,” Khan says.

“We had no idea we were going into the pros vs. rookie, David vs Goliath season, but it just dawned on me that I was ready and that I was one of these professionals who I was standing next to.”

But not only has Khana fried up some of the competition, they are in the top three and just one week away from possibly competing for the grand prize of $50,000.

“It’s just, it’s insane. It’s amazing because I’m very deeply connected to Detroit as a city. To be able to represent my city and my culture and get through another leg of this competition that had so many amazing competitors is just a huge source of pride and joy for me,” Khan says.

And while their journey was met with some drama when having to chop one of their original crew members along the way, a new one joined the race, a race that Khan says will be insane to watch come this Sunday.

“There have been a lot of crazy episodes so far, but this one, in particular, is going to have you on the edge of your seat,” Khan says. 

The next episode of Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race airs this at 8 p.m. EST on Sunday, July 23.