Jack Sobel was homesick—and a bit hungry. He'd recently left New Mexico for Atlanta, and often found himself prowling streets lined with pizzerias, taco shacks, and international restaurants, hoping to find the southwestern dishes he'd grown up on. Memories of sweet yellow Navajo corn sauce and fiery chorizo lingered at the forefront of his mind, but most potently missed were the Hatch green chiles so integral to southwestern cooking. So after searching in vain, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Agave Restaurant was born.

Every week, Jack has fresh green and red chiles shipped directly to his open-air kitchen from Hatch, New Mexico. He combines these with locally sourced ingredients to craft contemporary southwestern specialties lauded by media outlets ranging from Creative Loafing to USA Today. Pulling from his years working alongside Mexican and Navajo chefs, he whips up smoky blue-corn chicken enchiladas, tender green-chile meatloaf, and crawfish pasta showered in spicy red-chile cream, all washed down with the specialty margaritas named as some of the finest in the city by CBS Atlanta. The margaritas' secret? Freshly squeezed lime juice and 100 different varieties of tequila.

As Jack and his chefs labor in the kitchen, diners await meals out in the airy bi-level dining room, where colorful paintings, vibrant tapestries, and rustic crosses speckle the sand-colored walls. The restaurant is housed in a historically important building—the original General Store for the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill, which once peddled groceries and essentials to shoppers in exchange for pennies and magic beans.