Mary Miles, in her signature glasses and short-cropped white hair, stood by herself during the February 17 Board of Liquor License Commissioners’ hearing — she didn’t have an attorney by her side, as most business owners do.
At Dimples Bar & Grill, the cheesesteak is the core of what Miles offers, her evangelism of the quintessential Philly sandwich, selling an estimated 500 a week. As she told officials at the liquor board hearing, quality matters to her. On a daily basis, Miles and her husband, Armand, season and cook their onions and they meet their bread distributor to get Amoroso Italian rolls. The daily hunt for the only bread Miles trusts is “like an egg hunt.”
“We meet the driver in Wilmington, and it’s sporadic. We don’t know where we’re going to meet him after one day to the next,” she said. “And so we take pride in that, and that’s where we stand out. Right? We don’t use shipped day-old bread.”
Miles also highlighted they exclusively use halal ribeye for cheesesteaks, slicing their own and cooking it to order, stating it’s “the Philly way.”
She also gregariously shared a story of a customer who was able to enjoy a cheesesteak for the first time thanks to the cafe’s offering of gluten-free bread. She held the room’s attention during otherwise stale legal proceedings.
“Everybody’s not me. I get it, but shit, all I did was read the application and that was that,” laughed Miles. “I worked in law firms when I was in college, I wanted to be a lawyer. So girl, I’m a little lawyer.”
While getting permits without an attorney isn’t advice she recommends for anyone else, Miles showing up and taking charge and fighting for her business is at the core of who she is.
Her liquor license? Approved on the spot.
But her path to getting started wasn’t so easy. After an arsonist burned down her first Dimples location in Cecil County just three months after opening in 2023, Miles was in search of “calm.” Named after her mother, the cafe was the couple’s first venture outside of her native Philadelphia. They realized in Maryland they needed far less capital than in the King of Prussia area.
After the insurance money settled, they attempted a second location in Elkton, but the neighbors weren’t so friendly, forcing the couple to break their lease early.
“[The neighbors] kept coming in here calling me n—-,” Miles said. “It was that kind of party.”
And while most would’ve quit, Miles opted to try again in a new neighborhood. “The customers were like, go to Baltimore, you’ll do fine in Baltimore,” she said of the rationale for moving into the city. And indeed, her third location at the corner of E. Clement and Decatur Street seems to be the charm.
“The people of Locust Point have given us such peace just by being them,” reflected Miles. “And so this is the best that we’ve seen in the last three years.”
In true Baltimore corner business tradition, the bar at Dimples greets the patrons when they walk in. With winter behind them, the front door is open, with a breeze flowing through the restaurant. Before service starts, Miles and Armand are at the bar. Miles, as front of house and bar manager, is chopping up fruit to serve drinks with the new liquor license, an aroma of citrus permeating the air, and Armand is on his computer locking in schedules for the back of house.
Locust Point is a sleepy residential part of the city with a handful of food options tucked into this corner close to the Under Armour offices. Perhaps because of Miles’ exuberance mixed with her determination to serve the best Philly cheesesteaks, Dimples has been a hit with the locals.
Connor Deckard, 25, moved to Locust Point in early 2023 from South Carolina and was pleased to find a walking distance bar and eatery. He jokes he frequents the establishment a little too much, at least once a week. The liquor license was a game changer for him as he was able to imbibe without taking a “$40 uber around.” It was also the first place he’d had a real Philly cheesesteak.
“I have to admit, their classic cheesesteak is really hard to divert from,” said Deckard when asked about his go-to order. “It’s a tried and beaten path, I’ve tried a couple of their sides like their cheese fries — it’s a great comfort food.”
While the food keeps him coming back, it’s also the experience he’s had here, citing the “little bit of a charm that I sort of grew up with in the South and have kind of missed with the culture shock of moving up here.”
It’s been important to Miles to be a good steward to the community, ensuring there is mutual trust with neighbors, especially after her experience in other communities.
“Sometimes there’s a little hesitation about going [into Black-owned establishments],” said Miles. “People don’t know if they want to support you because, you know, we’re loud, we’re big, and we’re boisterous.”
But Miles says the community has embraced her: “They accept me just the way I am.”
With her programming of happy hours, she said she has regulars that come in throughout the week. Her current source of pride is being ranked in the top two on Google’s list of the best cheesesteak in the city.
“People come here for doctor’s appointments and they’ll tell me, they’ll say, ‘I Google “best place to eat in Locust Point,” and you popped up,’” she said. “And then they go write a review and say it’s everything that people think it is. Yes. Believe the hype.”
After six months of operating their Locust Point location, the couple officially announced Fells Point for their second location at 1718 Thames Street, in the former Riptide location, opening later this fall.
“Gotta strike while the iron is hot,” said Miles about her expansion plans. And after struggling with two other iterations of the business, she’s excited for the second location to finally fulfill her dream of having her brand expand.
“Fells Point pays homage to Philly’s South Street,” Mile explained. “An all-nighter, open until 2 a.m. I’m hoping to capture cheesesteak lovers across Baltimore City.”
With a truncated menu focusing on her speciality, the Philly cheesesteak, and wings, fries, and onion rings, the Fells Point spot is aimed to be a fast casual QR-code ordering spot with “Dimples-ettes” (Miles’ term for servers regardless of gender) bringing patrons their food. With no formal table service, the kitchen will be open late, perfect to catch the after-bars crowd. With an entertainment license, Miles is eager to work with her longtime friend DJ Decka, who she’s known since first grade, to bring live music to the space.
And this is good news for Deckard, who got married in May to the girl he moved to Baltimore for and relocated to Canton. He had lamented before the news was announced: “[I’m] very sad to be leaving Locust Point and not being a regular here shortly.”