Gabri

Gabriel Rodriguez -- known to viewers and fellow competitors simply as “Gabri” -- is a Mexican chef

and television personality originally from Mexico City. He began cooking early in life out of necessity, and after earning a culinary degree he trained at Pujol under Enrique Olvera, one of the defining figures of modern Mexican gastronomy. He went on to cook at Arboledas 125 in Chiapas before becoming head chef at Maximo Bistrot in Mexico City, citing Eduardo Garcia of Maximo

Bistrot as a major influence on his cooking.

In 2017 Gabri won the second season of Top Chef Mexico, and by 2018 he was cooking at Tetetlan in Mexico City. In 2023 he was invited back to the franchise for Top Chef: World All-Stars (Season 20), a global edition that gathered winners and finalists from Top Chef adaptations around the world. Gabri reached the finale as one of the final three, alongside eventual champion Buddha Lo

and runner-up Sara Bradley. Over the course of the season he landed in the bottom -- and narrowly

escaped elimination -- more often than any other competitor, which earned him the affectionate

nickname “El Gato” (“the cat”), a nod to the myth that cats have nine lives. As he put it in a finale interview, he always took risks to represent Mexican cuisine in an elevated way, which is why he so often landed in either the top or the bottom.