Dinner With An Online Dating Trailblazer

Wednesday, I headed over to Tenzan restaurant in Midtown for dinner with Dating Revolution founder and CEO Ross Felix.

Tenzan: The Midtown outpost of this Upper West Side eatery offers swift service & tasty sushi

Over a delicious selection of sushi rolls, we talked about the highs and lows of online dating, and being single in New York.

Whether it’s following certain rules or throwing out the playbook altogether, many Gotham singles seem to think there’s a strategy that has to be followed when it comes to making a lasting connection. Ross and I both agreed that common sense and putting yourself out there are the most important keys to dating success.

A JDate.com success story, Ross -- with the support and creative input of his fiancée – is breathing new life into the Internet dating space. Currently in beta testing mode, Dating Revolution will offer a number of safeguards and tools that Match.com and other existing sites don’t.

Dating Revolution will solicit member feedback to help enforce dater honesty, while color coded searching will make it easier to find matches faster. And you can also maximize opportunities for connecting by joining niche communities within the site specific to religion, hobbies, etc.

For a limited time, membership to the site is free. Click here to find out more.

Girls Night Out: Whiskey Trader

Tuesday night, after seeing “Superior Donuts,” I headed over to the Whiskey Trader in Midtown for a happy hour hosted by The Lost Girls.

Bartending Goddesses: (from left) Lost Girls authors and bloggers Amanda, Jen and Holly

While enjoying a couple of cosmos mixed perfectly by Jen, my Divalicious friend Heidi and I talked about male profiling -- i.e., making assumptions about men in suits. She presumes they’re dull and conservative, I think a suit usually spells sophistication.

Speaking of assumptions about the opposite sex, I decided to vet my theories on texting versus calling with a couple of friendly guys at the bar.

When I said that texting to make plans is less considerate than making a call, both men balked. They maintained that it’s hard to know when is a good time to call a woman, and one even tried to liken texting and emailing to the lost art of letter writing.

With all due respect, I think these are just excuses for not taking initiative and picking up the phone. As DatingRevolution founder Ross Felix puts it so well in this blog post, guys need to man up here. A quick call goes a long way toward making a girl (this girl, at least) feel courted.

Coming up…a look at Broadway’s sizzling “Burn The Floor” and an action-packed night out in Hell’s Kitchen.