Gabe Erales Biography – Gabe Erales Wiki
Gabe Erales is an American celebrity chef from Austin, Texas. He was crowned the winner of the 18th season of Bravo’s cooking competition show Top Chef. The winner also gets to bag a grand prize of $250, 000 in cash. He became the winner after beating Shota Nakajima and Dawn Burrell. He was proud to be the first Mexican winner of the franchise. He said, ” One of the biggest things that has really warmed my heart is knowing that I am the first Mexican Top Chef. I’m happy to be representing my culture, my cooking, and also a group of people that, really, operate the kitchens across the U.S. “
Gabe was a cast member of the 18th season of Bravo’s cooking competition show Top Chef. The cooking show, which took place in Portland, Oregon debuted on Thursday, April 1, 2021, at 7 p.m. The celebrity chef started to work in kitchens when he was around 15 years of age before he shifted to Texas where he went to study at the University of Texas. He undertook his studies and graduated with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. By the time he was graduating, he knew that he was passionate about cooking. He then proceeded to undertake culinary studies finishing at Le Cordon Bleu Austin.
He is a chef who has specialized in Mexican cookery (cuisine). He previously worked as a chef or rather the executive chef of Comedor Restaurant. It is an eatery based in Austin, Texas serving Mexican delicacies. The restaurant has gained so much recognition by being voted as the Best New Restaurant in the 2019 issue of the Esquire Magazine. Consequently, it has been voted in the same title in 2019 by Austin Monthly and Texas Monthly in 2020. He also got recognition and was titled the “Prince of Pork” for two consecutive years after winning the 2018 and 2019 Cochon555 Culinary Competition in Austin. It is alleged that he was fired from Comedor for “repeated violations of policies,” as stated by Austin Eater.
Before joining the Comedor restaurant, he has previously worked in reputable restaurants and famous chefs such as Jesse Griffiths of Dai Due, the late Miguel Ravago at The Fonda San Miguel, and Rene Ortiz at La Condesa. His cooking experience also comes from working in places like Noma in Copenhagen and Mexico as well as Geraldine’s. The principles he uses in his cooking mainly put emphasis on the local market by building a good relationship with farmers in the locality like buying a distinct variety of ingredients including landrace corn, chiles, and other ingredients from several parts of Mexico. He is in the process of working on a novel restaurant idea called Bacalar with the expectation that he will put it across to the public in the Rainey Street District of Austin in Fall 2022.
Gabe Erales Controversial Win
Amidst Erales being crowned as the winner of Top Chef season 18, great controversy came up concerning his recent firing from Austin Mexican restaurant Comedor circled on social media. He was fired from his position as the opening executive chef of Comedor in December 2020, two months after shooting for Top Chef wrapped. The restaurant’s partner and chef Philip Speer first announced his leaving in vague yet serious terms, saying Erales was terminated for “repeated violations of our policies and for behavior in conflict with our values.”
No one has officially come forward with any specific accusations, people took to Twitter to express concern and surprise that Erales won. On the Friday morning after the episode aired, Statesman reported that Erales “admitted to having a consensual sexual relationship” with a female staffer during the summer of 2020. When he returned to the restaurant after filming the series in the fall, he cut down her work hours “based on her performance,” but “continued to communicate with her in an unprofessional manner.” He likened his actions to reprimand the employee as “bad decisions” that were “discriminatory.”
Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi addressed social media comments about Erales with a tweet, writing, “As someone who has been sexually harassed, this topic is a serious one and merits openness.” She claims that the show wasn’t aware of the allegations against Erales and calls for the show’s network channel Bravo to investigate what happened. She also noted that there were no recorded allegations of sexual harassment during filming.
While Lakshmi says no one had knowledge of Erales’s mistreatment of a female employee, some information was made available before the finale aired. Last month, Speer told Statesman that Erales was fired specifically for “harassment of women.” Erales declined to comment further beyond the Statesman piece.
Gabe Erales Age
He hails from El Paso, Texas. His family moved to the United States from Quintana Roo, Mexico. He is of Mexican origin greatly influenced by his family’s Mexican culture and way of cooking.
Gabe Erales Wife
He is married to his wife and they have four children together. He has severally expressed that the support of his wife has led him to achieve a lot of things.
Gabe Erales Children
He is the father of four children, comprising of a son named Ezrah and three daughters named Gabriella, Penelope.
Gabe Erales Instagram
He is on Instagram as g_erales.
