Date Lab: Well, he didn’t end up in the trunk of a car ...

About the daters ...

Dating history as TV show ...

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( Courtesy of the daters ) -

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Ross: Guy goes on a million dates, but can’t quite find the right tattooed, smoking, wild girl. Trusty bulldog sidekick is the show’s main attraction.

Erin: Girl joins online dating site following a breakup. Awkward comedy gold with a few decent dates — followed by more awkward comedy gold.

Dream date ...

Ross: Christina Hendricks, as a zoologist/memoirist. She works with megafauna in Africa, while still being connected to the Internet. She hunts down rhino and elephant poachers and is celebrated.

Erin: Nature photographer who has a big, shaggy dog for a pet, loves to cook, and listens to Otis Redding.

Brag a little ...

Ross: I have great legs and taste in music. I can cook a good meal for a lady. I have a great head of hair.

Erin: I’m pretty laid-back, smart, always up for an adventure, and I can make some tasty vegetarian chili.

Interests to share ...

Ross: Animals (I love my dog, probably too much, but it’s too late now), music (live), movies, easy conversationalist, liberal, open-minded.

Erin: Music, a love of the outdoors, a general interest in helping people or the environment, and closeness with family.

Best date ever ...

Ross: Dinner at Vegetate (RIP) and a show at Black Cat, Ben’s afterward.

Erin: A date made me dinner from the garden, we ate outdoors and then drove to watch the sunset (which we didn’t actually get there in time to see) on top of a mountain where you could see all the major peaks in the area and just talked.

About the date ...

7:30 p.m., Coppi’s Organic Restaurant, U Street

Ross: I went into it like I would any blind date. Which is to say it could be anything from a complete disaster to, more likely, two reasonable people going out who may or might not connect.

Erin: I was equal parts nervous and excited. Walking in was awkward. Wasn’t sure where I was going in the restaurant or who I was meeting. The waiter walked me to the bar.

Ross: In some ways, she looked like my type. If one of my friends was trying to set me up, there’s a distinct possibility they would pick her. Of course, some of my friends have set me up on dates that made me want to strangle them!

Erin: I was a little surprised. Ross had a little gray in his beard. I can’t remember what I put in the application, but I’m not a beard person. Other than that, he looked a bit like my type, kind of alternative.

Ross: In this town, there’s a certain group of templates of how people look and act. Erin hit part of one — the same way I fit into one as well: the nonprofit, sort-of-lefty, environmental do-gooder template. Not crunchy, because D.C. is too conservative to be crunchy. That’s good that we both fit into that. It gave us plenty to talk about.

Erin: Ross is very easy to talk to, a very good conversationalist. It seemed like we didn’t run out of things to talk about. We talked a lot about music; he’s pretty knowledgeable about it and had very interesting things to say. We agreed that pie is superior to cake. We talked about dogs, family. Some movie talk.

Ross: She is from New York, I grew up in Chicago, so we talked about the differences between those cities and D.C. The conversation was very interesting, and I was enjoying her company and what she had to say. [But] the very orchestrated nature makes it hard to take risks, and I like to take risks, even in conversation. And there’s a bit of a prisoner’s dilemma there. You don’t want to look like a jerk and say something that you know may be taken out of context when people read it in the paper. There’s more of a hesitancy and playing it safe in the date — on both of our parts. [It’s] hard to find attraction in that. I personally don’t find that interesting. And I’m sure many women probably don’t find that interesting in a gentleman.