Mexican Restaurant Antiguo Lobo Opens Soon in Chamblee, Honoring the Owner’s Late Father

Mexican restaurant and tequila bar Antiguo Lobo opens this spring on Peachtree Road in historic downtown Chamblee. Owned by Jesús Oñate Jr., Antiguo Lobo (“old wolf”) honors his late father with a menu featuring dishes from multiple regions around Mexico.

Jesús Oñate Sr., who immigrated to the United States in 1971 from Jalisco and opened his first restaurant in Chamblee, owned five Monterrey restaurants, a location of El Sombrero, the Lazy Donkey, and eight El Ranchero restaurants in Georgia. Oñate Jr. soon followed in his father’s footsteps, running one of the family’s Monterrey restaurants in Smyrna and eventually going on to own Zapata in Norcross, Taqueria on Broad in downtown Atlanta, and Monterrey of Marietta.

“My family’s roots in Mexican restaurants in Georgia date back to the ‘70s, when my father first moved here from the western Mexican state of Jalisco,” Oñate Jr. says in the press release. “I’m honored to carry on my father’s legacy with this new restaurant, which is a homecoming of sorts as my father opened his first restaurant in the U.S. in Chamblee.”

Opening inside a former antiques store, the design for Antiguo Lobo includes an open-air patio and seating for 60 people inside. A mural dedicated to Oñate Sr. will depict images of his life, including his first car in America — a 1977 Pontiac Can-Am.

The menu for Antiguo Lobo will feature dishes like Molcajete El Monstruo with a choice of steak, chicken, or shrimp served in a volcanic rock mortar, enchiladas verdes, and pollo al mole along with tacos, burritos, soups, and salads. Oñate Jr., also a trained tequila expert and certified Master mezcalier, plans to create cocktails for the bar centered around agave-based liquors.

Antiguo Lobo

Antiguo Lobo

Open for lunch and dinner, Tuesday - Sunday. Masks required.
5370 Peachtree Road, Atlanta. antiguolobo.com.

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