Jonathon’s Forestwood sits at 5337 Forest Lane in North Dallas, and on a Saturday morning the parking lot fills up long before most people are willing to admit they’re awake. Owner Jonathon Erdeljac, known around Dallas as the Gravy King for good reason, has built a real weekend following here since opening in September 2023, and the thing regulars mention before the food is usually the bar setup: a build-your-own Bloody Mary station, house-made mix, a full spread of garnishes, the kind of thing that turns waiting for a table into part of the plan instead of a nuisance.
The food backs that reputation up without needing the drink as a distraction. Migas made with house-made chorizo lean hard into real Tex-Mex technique rather than the usual diner scramble, crispy tortilla strips and peppers folded through eggs that actually taste like someone thought about them. Chilaquiles get the same treatment. The Country Benedict swaps hollandaise for the Gravy King’s own peppered cream gravy, and it’s become one of those dishes people order the same way every time because why mess with something that already works. A Southern Benedict runs alongside it for anyone who wants a slightly different angle on the same idea.
Waffles here go well past syrup and butter. The Peanut Butter Jelly Time Waffle keeps showing up in reviews as the dish nobody expects to love as much as they do, and the All In One Waffle takes things further, bacon baked directly into the batter, then piled with scrambled eggs, caramelized onions, green chilies, and pork sausage, all smothered in that same pepper gravy with hot sauce on the side. Chicken and waffles remains the safest bet at the table, sweet and savory doing exactly what the format promises, and chicken and biscuits gives anyone who wants less sugar and more gravy a real alternative built on that same base.
Danger Dogs deserve their own mention. Four turkey sausage links dipped in pancake batter and fried until they land somewhere between corn dog and funnel cake, served with spicy mustard that somehow makes the sweetness work instead of fighting it. The chicken fried steak, a holdover from the original Oak Cliff menu, still comes out big enough to hang off the plate, breading that holds its crunch even after the gravy’s had time to sit. And the patty melt, built on toasted wheat bread with sautéed mushrooms, onions, Swiss, provolone, and a roasted garlic aioli, has quietly become one of the better-kept secrets on a menu everyone assumes they already know.
Then there’s The Kure, which does exactly what the name implies and has developed a following among people who plan their Saturday around needing it. Cocktails round out the drink list beyond the Bloody Mary bar, including a Torched Cherry Limeade built on Bacardi Dragonberry, lime, and lemon-lime soda, though regulars are split on whether it actually delivers the punch its name promises…