Meet Darell Ariola, Culinary Creative Consultant at Blueberry's Grill — the standards, systems, and menu direction behind all three Carolina locations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Every plate at Blueberry's Grill traces back to one set of standards, and those standards have a name attached. Darell Ariola is our Culinary Creative Consultant, the brain behind the brand, and the reason a benedict in Wilmington tastes the way it does in Myrtle Beach.

Meet Darell Ariola, the Creative Behind the Blueberry's Grill Menu

Darell Ariola serves as Culinary Creative Consultant at Blueberry's Grill, shaping the menu direction across all three locations: Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, and Wilmington. He established the scratch-made standards that define the Blueberry's Grill experience, and his vision blends coastal Carolina flavors, Southern comfort, and modern brunch creativity. That's the short version. The longer version is that almost everything you taste here passed through his hands first, from the batter recipes to the way a kitchen line moves on a packed Sunday.

Who is Darell Ariola?

Darell carries two roles at once. Brand-wide, he sets the menu direction and the scratch-made standards, deciding what Blueberry's cooks and how it should be done. Operationally, he serves as Kitchen Lead at all three locations, where his systems tie together kitchen rhythm, team movement, and equipment planning to deliver speed of service without sacrificing precision. In plain terms: he designs the dishes, then he designs the kitchen that can cook them to order for a full dining room without cutting a single corner.

What does a Culinary Creative Consultant actually do?

Blueberry's Grill runs one <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/menu/">core menu</a> across all three locations, and Darell leads all three kitchens. That structure is unusual for a multi-location restaurant, and it's deliberate. The same person who wrote the standard walks the line that keeps it, whether that line is at Grande Dunes in <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/myrtle-beach/">Myrtle Beach</a>, on the waterfront at <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/north-myrtle-beach/">Barefoot Landing</a>, or at <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/wilmington/">Lumina Station</a> near Wrightsville Beach. Daily specials change by location. The standard doesn't.

One standard, three kitchens

You can taste the approach in the details. The Blueberry Hushpuppies are an original recipe built on blue cornmeal and blueberries. The Blueberry Crème Brûlée French Toast starts with grilled challah and vanilla custard. The Blue Ridge Salmon gets a house-made blueberry maple reduction, and the Crab Cake Benedict is built on a house-made lump crab cake. Every one of them is cooked when you order it, not before. Come taste the standard for yourself. We're open daily for breakfast, brunch, and lunch at all three locations, and the kitchen runs the same way at every single one.

What his standards taste like on the plate

Read next: Sweet, Savory, or Both: How to Order at Blueberry's Grill (https://blueberrysgrill.com/blog/how-to-order-at-blueberrys/) · The Story of the Blueberry Crème Brûlée French Toast (https://blueberrysgrill.com/blog/blueberry-creme-brulee-french-toast/) · Gluten-Friendly and Lactose-Friendly at Blueberry's Grill: How It Works (https://blueberrysgrill.com/blog/gluten-friendly-lactose-friendly-substitutions/)

Blueberry's Grill won Gold for Best Brunch and Bronze for Best Breakfast in The Sun News' 2026 Best of the Beach — more than 163,000 community votes. Thank you, Grand Strand.

Best of the Beach 2026

The results were announced on September 20, 2026, and the full list of winners is published by The Sun News at votedbestofthebeach.com.

Quick facts: 2026 Best of the Beach, presented by The Sun News. Gold, Best Brunch and Bronze, Best Breakfast. Announced September 20, 2026. Covers Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. More than 163,000 votes cast across 222 categories. Source: votedbestofthebeach.com.

In the 2026 Best of the Beach awards from The Sun News, Blueberry's Grill won Gold for Best Brunch and Bronze for Best Breakfast.

Thank you, Grand Strand

Gold for Best Brunch and Bronze for Best Breakfast in The Sun News' 2026 Best of the Beach

Best of the Beach is decided by public vote, not by a panel. In 2026, more than 163,000 votes were cast across 222 categories and more than 2,300 businesses on the Grand Strand, an 11 percent increase over 2025. The three highest vote-getters in each category receive Gold, Silver and Bronze. These votes come from the people of this community, and that is the only kind of recognition we know how to earn.

How Best of the Beach works

<ul><li>2022: Silver, Best Breakfast</li><li>2023: Silver, Best Breakfast and Silver, Best Brunch</li><li>2024: Gold, Best Brunch</li><li>2025: Silver, Best Brunch and Bronze, Best Breakfast</li><li>2026: Gold, Best Brunch and Bronze, Best Breakfast</li></ul>Five consecutive years is a pattern, not a lucky morning. It comes from the same thing every day: a scratch kitchen, a full team, and doors that open early.

Five straight years on the podium

To our neighbors in Grande Dunes, along 82nd Avenue North, and the guests staying at the Marriott Myrtle Beach Resort & Spa: thank you. Our Myrtle Beach restaurant is at 7931 N. Kings Hwy, Unit #140, Myrtle Beach, SC 29572, (843) 945-4588. Doors open at 6:30 a.m., and the kitchen serves through lunch until 3 p.m. Free parking in the shared lot; the patio is dog-friendly.

Thank you, Myrtle Beach

To everyone at Barefoot Landing, in Windy Hill, at Barefoot Resort & Golf, and along the Intracoastal Waterway, and to the crowds heading to the Alabama Theatre and House of Blues who stopped in first: thank you. Our North Myrtle Beach restaurant is at 4856 Highway 17 South, North Myrtle Beach, SC 29582, (843) 281-0048. Doors open at 7 a.m., lunch is served until 3 p.m., and the patio sits over the water. This location was also named to Yelp's Top 100 Brunch Spots in the U.S. in 2023 and 2024.

Thank you, North Myrtle Beach

Best of the Beach covers the Grand Strand, so this recognition belongs to our two South Carolina restaurants: Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach. Our Wilmington, North Carolina location at Lumina Station is outside the program's area and is not part of this award.

What the award covers

Blueberry's Grill is independently owned, not a chain, run by a local team that includes a U.S. veteran co-owner. Each kitchen cooks from scratch every morning, and all three locations share the same core menu. We serve breakfast, brunch and lunch only, daily until 3 p.m. There is no dinner service, no catering and no delivery.

Who we are

Weekends are waitlist only, all year. Join the online waitlist before you arrive and you are in line while you are still on the road. From September through May, weekday tables can be requested by calling the restaurant and checking with the manager; it is never guaranteed, but the window is open. The menu includes gluten-friendly options. Source:The Sun News, 2026 Best of the Beach winners, votedbestofthebeach.com.

Planning a visit

Read next: Grande Dunes Mornings: Inside the Original Blueberry's Grill (https://blueberrysgrill.com/blog/original-blueberrys-grill-grande-dunes/) · A First-Timer's Guide to Brunch at Barefoot Landing (https://blueberrysgrill.com/blog/brunch-at-barefoot-landing-guide/) · Family Brunch: Kids, Dogs, and Big Tables (https://blueberrysgrill.com/blog/family-brunch-kids-dogs-big-tables/)

Blueberry's Grill Wins Gold for Best Brunch and Bronze for Best Breakfast in the 2026 Best of the Beach Awards

What scratch-made means at Blueberry's Grill: cooked to order, in-house recipes, one standard across Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, and Wilmington.

"Scratch-made" gets printed on a lot of menus. Here's what it means on ours: at Blueberry's Grill, every dish is prepared in-house and cooked when you order it, at all three of our Carolina locations, every day. No pre-cooked plates waiting under a lamp. Nothing dressed up from a box.

What Scratch-Made Actually Means at Blueberry's Grill

It means the kitchen starts from ingredients, not from packages. The pancakes are made with real buttermilk and fresh blueberries. The hushpuppy batter is an original recipe built on blue cornmeal and blueberries. Every French toast in the house starts with challah. The Crab Cake Benedict is built on a house-made lump crab cake, the Blue Ridge Salmon is finished with a house-made blueberry maple reduction, and the burgers are half-pound Angus. Even the coffee holds the line: 100% Colombian, all day.

What does scratch-made mean here?

Scratch-made is only half of it. The other half is timing. Your plate isn't started until you order it, which is why the eggs arrive the way you asked for them and the French toast comes off the grill hot instead of warmed back up. Cooking to order is slower to promise and better to eat, so we built the whole operation around it.

Cooked to order, not cooked ahead

Not here, and that's by design. <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/blog/meet-darell-ariola/">Darell Ariola</a>, our Culinary Creative Consultant and Kitchen Lead at all three locations, built the kitchen systems around one goal: speed of service without sacrificing precision. Kitchen rhythm, team movement, and equipment planning all point at the same thing, a made-right plate that still gets to your table fast.

Doesn't cooked-to-order mean a long wait?

Blueberry's Grill runs one <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/menu/">core menu</a> across <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/myrtle-beach/">Myrtle Beach</a>, <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/north-myrtle-beach/">North Myrtle Beach</a>, and <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/wilmington/">Wilmington</a>. Same recipes, same scratch-made rule, same cooked-to-order timing. Daily specials vary by location, and the standard never does. Yelp named our North Myrtle Beach location to its Top 100 Brunch Spots in the U.S. in 2023 and 2024, and the kitchen there runs exactly like the other two. Gluten-friendly and lactose-friendly substitutions are available. Just tell your server what you need. Come for the 100% scratch-made brunch. We're open every day for breakfast, brunch, and lunch, and the first pour of Colombian coffee is waiting.

The same standard at all three locations

Read next: Brunch Before the Beach: Start at Lumina Station (https://blueberrysgrill.com/blog/brunch-near-wrightsville-beach-lumina-station/) · Grande Dunes Mornings: Inside the Original Blueberry's Grill (https://blueberrysgrill.com/blog/original-blueberrys-grill-grande-dunes/) · A First-Timer's Guide to Brunch at Barefoot Landing (https://blueberrysgrill.com/blog/brunch-at-barefoot-landing-guide/)

The story of the Blueberry Crème Brûlée French Toast — grilled challah, vanilla custard, and how it became the most-photographed plate at Blueberry's Grill.

Every restaurant has one dish that gets photographed before anyone picks up a fork. At Blueberry's Grill, it's the Blueberry Crème Brûlée French Toast, the plate people order because a friend told them to and then tell their own friends about.

The Story of the Blueberry Crème Brûlée French Toast

It's our French toast built the way the name promises: thick slices of challah, grilled, with vanilla custard and the blueberry finish that gives the dish its first name. It borrows its idea from the dessert, crème brûlée, and turns it into breakfast. Sweet enough to feel like a treat, substantial enough to be the whole meal.

What is the Blueberry Crème Brûlée French Toast?

Every French toast at Blueberry's Grill starts with challah, and that's not an accident. Challah is rich and eggy with a soft, tight crumb, so it drinks up custard without falling apart on the grill. It holds a crisp edge outside and stays tender in the middle, which is exactly what a French toast should do. Once we found the bread that behaves that way, we stopped looking.

Why challah?

At every Blueberry's Grill, every day. The Blueberry Crème Brûlée French Toast is on the <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/menu/">core menu</a> at all three locations: <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/myrtle-beach/">Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach</a>, <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/north-myrtle-beach/">Barefoot Landing in North Myrtle Beach</a>, and <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/wilmington/">Lumina Station in Wilmington</a>, where it's become a special favorite of the garden-patio crowd near Wrightsville Beach. Like everything in our kitchens, it's <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/blog/what-scratch-made-means/">scratch-made</a> and cooked when you order it.

Where can you order it?

The kitchen's answer: a cup of our 100% Colombian coffee, which cuts the sweetness cleanly. The bar's answer: a mimosa. And if your table wants a savory counterweight, the Charleston Shrimp and Grits sitting across from this French toast is about as good as a table gets. Come try the plate everyone photographs. We're open daily until 3 p.m., with doors opening at 6:30 a.m. in Myrtle Beach and 7 a.m. in North Myrtle Beach and Wilmington.

What should you pair it with?

A first-timer's guide to the Blueberry's Grill menu — sweet plates, savory benedicts and skillets, and how to build the perfect table order.

First time at Blueberry's Grill and staring at a menu full of contenders? Here's the honest way to order, from the people who cook it. Everything is scratch-made and cooked to order at all three locations, so the only real question is which direction you're headed: sweet, savory, or the smart move, both.

Sweet, Savory, or Both: How to Order at Blueberry's Grill

One order of Blueberry Hushpuppies for the middle of the table. It's an original recipe built on blue cornmeal and blueberries, it arrives fast, and it gives everyone something to argue over while the mains cook.

Start the table with hushpuppies

The Blueberry Pancakes are made with real buttermilk and fresh blueberries. The Blueberry Crème Brûlée French Toast is grilled challah with vanilla custard, the most photographed plate in the house. And the Bananas Foster and Walnuts French Toast takes the same challah somewhere warmer. Every French toast here starts with challah. That's the rule.

If you're going sweet

Two headliners. The Crab Cake Benedict is built on a house-made lump crab cake with remoulade. The Charleston Shrimp and Grits brings sautéed shrimp, smoked bacon, and kielbasa in a bloody mary sauce. Around them sit the omelets, the skillets, and, for the biggest appetites, half-pound Angus burgers and a Monte Cristo stacked with smoked pit ham, smoked turkey, american, and swiss.

If you're going savory

Tables that know what they're doing split the order: one sweet plate, one savory plate, trade halfway. A benedict plus the Crème Brûlée French Toast covers the whole spectrum, and nobody leaves wondering what the other side tasted like.

The both strategy

Coffee is 100% Colombian, all day. The full bar pours mimosas and Bloody Marys from open to close. Pick a lane there too, or don't. Gluten-friendly and lactose-friendly substitutions are available. Just tell your server what you need. However you order, your plate is cooked when the ticket hits the kitchen, not before. We're open daily at all three locations.

What to drink

Planning brunch at Barefoot Landing? What to order at Blueberry's Grill North Myrtle Beach, when to come, the waterfront patio, and how the Yelp Waitlist works.

Barefoot Landing sits right on the Intracoastal Waterway in North Myrtle Beach, and Blueberry's Grill has held down the brunch end of it since the summer of 2018. If it's your first visit, here's how to do the morning right.

A First-Timer's Guide to Brunch at Barefoot Landing

We're open daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The line builds mid-morning, so the two easiest windows are before 9:30 a.m. or after 1 p.m. Summer and weekends run on walk-ins, and you can join the Yelp Waitlist the same day through the Yelp app, our website, or a quick phone call. One tip worth knowing: check in at the host stand within 10 minutes of your time, or the system gives your spot away.

When to come

The patio, if you can get it. It sits over the water at Barefoot Landing, with the footbridge in front of you, and dogs are welcome out there, with a bowl of cold water on request. Inside works too, and on cold or rainy mornings the dining room is the move. There's no wrong answer, just a waterfront one.

Where to sit

Yelp named this location to its Top 100 Brunch Spots in the U.S. two years in a row, #39 in 2023 and #41 in 2024, and the plates that earned it are all still on the <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/menu/">menu</a>. The Crab Cake Benedict is built on a house-made lump crab cake. The Charleston Shrimp and Grits comes loaded with sautéed shrimp, smoked bacon, and kielbasa. The <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/blog/blueberry-creme-brulee-french-toast/">Blueberry Crème Brûlée French Toast</a> handles the sweet side on grilled challah, and the Smoked Salmon Benedict splits the difference. Start with Blueberry Hushpuppies either way.

What to order

Parking in the shared Barefoot Landing lot is free, so come early, eat first, then walk it off around the Landing. The shops are steps away, and the Alabama Theatre and House of Blues are a short walk from the table. Locals from Windy Hill and Barefoot Resort treat this as the regular stop for a reason; visitors just need one morning to see it. Come find out what a brunch over the water does for the rest of your day. We're at <a href="https://blueberrysgrill.com/north-myrtle-beach/">Barefoot Landing</a> every morning at 7.

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