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When Rodrigo Rodriguez was growing up in Mexico, it didn’t take long to find his life’s calling.

His family had a meat shop and his father, Jorge Torres, got Rodriquez started in the business at a young age.

“I started when I was 12,” he said. “I learned everything from my father at his shop.”

Rodriguez, 32, has learned his lessons well and carved a nice career out of carving meat.

He learned the lessons so well, in fact, that he was judged to be one of the best in the country among meat cutters employed by Texas Roadhouse restaurants, finishing in the top 25 at the National Meat Cutter Challenge last month in Louisville, Kentucky.

Rodriguez did not finish among the top 12, however, who are eligible for the top prize of $25,000, but none of the finalists will know who is No. 1 until later in the year, when the company holds its national conference, according to Elise Goldstein, a public relations consultant with Texas Roadhouse.

The Harvey resident who works at the Texas Roadhouse in Tinley Park qualified for nationals after finishing in the top six in a regional challenge near Dallas.

Because meat cutters usually perform their craft in refrigerated areas, the qualifying event was held Jan. 26 in an ice rink at the Children’s Health StarCenter in Farmer’s Branch, Texas.

According to a Texas Roadhouse news release, each participant received 30 to 40 pounds of beef, consisting of one sirloin, one filet and one rib-eye to cut. The cutters were judged on quality, yield, and speed. The national qualifiers were the cutters who yielded the most steaks with the highest quality cut in the allotted time.

The ice arena was cooled down to 38 degrees for the event.

“I focused on my meat selections and that was a difference,” Rodriguez said of his success in Texas.

That was also the difference in the nationals, though he said there were not many choices of meat to carve left when it when it was his turn to choose.

But he said he had fun and is willing to try it again next year.

Jesse Selland, product coach director at Texas Roadhouse, said the contest is a way to reward the skills of employees.

“The annual competition allows our meat cutters to showcase their skills,” Selland said. “They’re the best of the best.”

In an average year, they cut about $1 million worth of meat and spend seven to eight hours a day cutting meat in the 35-degree walk-in cooler, according to the news release.

Rodriguez, who moved to the United States 18 years ago, said this was the first time he reached the finals.

He was mixed on if he was nervous about facing the best cutters in the United States.

“Maybe a little,” he said. “But not really. I’ve had a lot of practice with this over the years.”

He has been working at the Tinley Park Texas Roadhouse for 10 years, he said. When he found out he made it to the nationals, Rodriguez contacted his father, the man who helped get him started on this path.

“He’s still in Mexico working,” Rodriguez said. “When I told him about this, he was happy, and he was excited.”

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.