Gabe Erales
Felix Gabriel "Gabe" Erales is an American chef specializing in modern Mexican cuisine based in Austin, Texas. In 2021, Erales won the eighteenth season of Top Chef, becoming the series' first Latino winner. Education Erales has a BA and MA in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from University of Oklahoma. He graduated from Austin’s Le Cordon Bleu. Career Erales began working in restaurants at the age of 15 in El Paso, Texas and continued to do so throughout high school and college at University of Texas at Austin. 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 at Noma in Copenhagen, he went on to work for Noma during their Mexico pop-up in Tulum, Quintana Roo. In 2006, Erales opened Dai Due Taqueria with Jesse Griffiths as the executive chef. The restaurant – focusing on tacos using wild game and fish – was located in Austin’s First Food Hall