Date Lab

This Southern man has a taste for five-star cuisine and fine wine. But does this thirtysomething lawyer shelve him for further aging?

7:30 p.m. | 1789 Restaurant | Georgetown

James: I knew the restaurant was a really formal place, so I dressed to the nines -- black suit, French cuffs, the whole thing. Then I got there early. I was standing in the lobby saying hello to everybody. It was funny: People thought I worked there.

Jen: I walked in, like, five minutes late. My first impression was, Thank God he's taller than me. A lot of men ask me out who are my height or shorter -- and I'm 5-foot-2, so that's a problem.

James: The fact that she was Asian was a pleasant surprise. I've only dated white women; I'm from North Carolina, and there aren't a lot of options there. She was very attractive, very cute. The waiter took us over to our table.

Jen: It turned out we came from the same state. I'm Vietnamese, and he's Korean, so we talked about growing up Asian in the South. I remember thinking, He's very articulate. And he'd obviously done his homework: He said lamb was one of the things the restaurant was known for.

James: Apparently, I'm a foodie. I'd never heard that term before. I have a 70-bottle wine cellar in my tiny apartment, and I go to these fancy restaurants to get ideas for my own recipes. She doesn't go out that often. But she was very easy to talk to. We laughed over how we were both pre-med in college, which is such a stereotypically Asian thing to do.

Jen: There were moments throughout dinner -- certain hand movements, facial expressions -- when he looked really young. But he was funny, too. He told me about his dad's business, which is called something like "Chick Sex Operators." I was like, "What?"

James: My dad is a chick sexer: He separates boy chickens from girl chickens at a hatchery. I've always joked that it'd be [great] to have a business card that said "Chick Sexer." Jen and I were halfway through the meal when we found out that we'd gone to the same high school.

Jen: That was when I really felt old. As he was recounting his experiences, I was putting a timeline together in my head. He was four years behind me.

James: I actually thought she looked younger, maybe 28 or 29. If she felt uncomfortable, she hid it pretty well.

Jen: Toward the end of the date, I told him that I had seven weddings last year and seven this year. Some friends are hellbent on seeing me with somebody. They badger me into blind dates. I was regaling James with all these stories. He laughed, but I think he was mortified. Then, all of a sudden, I looked around, and we were the last ones there.

James: I gave her my card and got her number. I'd give the date a 4 [out of 5]. We'll go out again, but she's in a different place in her life than I am. There are a lot of great things about her, so that's probably my only issue. But it's tough to deal with.

Jen: It was one of my better blind dates, a solid 4. He's mature for his age. If I hadn't had those moments where I felt old, it would have been a 5.

Interviews by Jill Hudson Neal

UPDATE: The couple has e-mailed and texted, but "so much time has passed" since their date that James says he doubts they'll get together again.

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