Felix Gabriel "Gabe" Erales is an American chef specializing in modern Mexican cuisine based in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. In 2021, Erales won the eighteenth season of ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo in March 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs ...

'', becoming the series' first Latino winner.

Education

Erales graduated from Eastwood High School in El Paso, Texas then went on to get a BA and MA in

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

. He graduated from Austin’s

Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu (; French: " The Blue Ribbon"; LCB) is a French hospitality and culinary education institution, teaching haute cuisine. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The institution consists ...

Career

Erales began working in restaurants at the age of 15 in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

and continued to do so throughout high school and college at

. After graduating from college, he worked as an engineer in the automotive and semiconductor industry but soon after shifted his focus to his culinary talents. Erales went on to work in some of Austin's most notable restaurants (Fonda San Miguel, La Condesa, Qui, Odd Duck, Dai Due). After

staging Staging may refer to: Computing * Staging (cloud computing), a process used to assemble, test, and review a new solution before it is moved into production and the existing solution is decommissioned * Staging (data), intermediately storing data b ...

at Noma in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, he went on to work for Noma during their

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

pop-up in

Tulum Tulum (, ) is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are situated on cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribbean Sea. T ...

Quintana Roo Quintana Roo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 administrative divisions of Mexico, federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into municipalities of ...

. In 2006, Erales opened Dai Due Taqueria with Jesse Griffiths as the

executive chef A chef de cuisine (, French language, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that Supervisor, leads a kitchen and its cooks. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef is a chef ...

. The restaurant – focusing on tacos using wild game and fish – was located in Austin’s First Food Hall Fareground on Congress Avenue. He then opened the award winning Comedor restaurant, where he made famous the "bone marrow tacos". In 2021, Erales competed in '' Top Chef: Portland'', winning the season and its $250,000 grand prize. After shooting for ''Top Chef: Portland'' had ended, Erales was fired from his position as executive chef at Comedor due to violations of the restaurant's ethics policies. Erales has since issued an apology for his misconduct, which includes sexual harassment. He is currently in the process of building a new restaurant called Bacalar Restaurant that is scheduled to open in 2023.

Acclaim

Erales was featured in Tribeza’s Magnificent 7 in 2019. While working at Comedor (from April 2019 to December 2020) the restaurant was featured on

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

’s ‘Best New Restaurants in

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, 2019’ and Best Restaurant in Texas by

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. Founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, ''Texas Monthly'' chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the Natura ...

and Top 10 Best Restaurants in Austin 360 Eats. He was crowned the ''“Prince of Pork”'' two years in a row after winning the 2018 and 2019 Cochon555 Culinary Competition in

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

. Erales also created a Culinary Scholarship fund called Niños De Maíz.

Personal life

Gabe's parents are from

Chetumal, Quintana Roo Chetumal (, , ; , ) is a city on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It is the capital of the state of Quintana Roo and the municipal seat of the Municipality of Othón P. Blanco. In 2020 it had a population of 169,028 people ...

. He has 6 siblings and is married with four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erales, Gabriel Top Chef winners Living people University of Texas at Austin alumni Year of birth missing (living people) University of Oklahoma alumni