Lawyer Jackie Brown, 35, is smart, nerdy, caring and active, and looking for a man who enjoys sports, traveling and being a nice person. Youth counselor Matt Avery, 32, is loyal, likes sports but dislikes game-playing, and wants a low-key, easy-to-talk-to woman he can make feel special. We sent them to the Occidental in the District to see whether we’d made a match.  Our highly analytical tool for determining whether our daters will hit it off.  Matt: I got there at about 7:15. I started listening to Stevie Wonder to relax me [and] reading The Washington Post on my phone.  Jackie: He was nice-looking and had a nice smile. So I thought, Great, okay!  Matt: I was like, Wow, she’s really pretty. Date Lab got it right!  Jackie: We both like science fiction, the same TV shows and stuff. He asked my favorite movie and I said “Empire Strikes Back,” and he said I’d passed the test. [Laughs.]  Matt: That’s one of my favorite movies. I was like, “You’re a winner.” Both of us really like “The Lord of the Rings.” Both of us had movies we were kind of ashamed we never saw. I’ve never seen “Aliens”; she’s like, “You never saw ‘Aliens’?!” It’s rare to find somebody who’s interested in those kind of sci-fi things. I don’t meet a lot of women who do.  Jackie: He works for a nonprofit that deals with getting young boys into school and to do well in school. I volunteer with a similar organization after work once a week. Education is important to me — both of my parents were teachers. ... It saddens me to see how few kids graduate and go on to higher education.  Matt: I was impressed that she said she has a background in civil engineering [and] she’s in the National Guard. It’s a selfless act to give service to the country like that. We talked about sports; we both like football, albeit different teams.  Jackie: He’s a Redskins fan, and I am not. [Laughs.] I think they’re garbage! I’m pretty much die-hard Detroit. [But] I can’t think of anything else really on which we disagreed. I was asking him what his thoughts were on dating. We were talking about how people should be themselves.  Matt: She said she hadn’t dated anybody she felt was dishonest or pretending to be something they’re not. I said, well, it happens a lot ... [finding] out what people like and trying to become that person. But then reverting to your usual self and it’s like, “Wait, you weren’t really like that?”  Jackie: I said I had not found that to be the case.  Matt: She was funny, very down-to-earth, a fun person to be around. I know this sounds crazy, but she had really, really good eye contact.  Jackie: He’s nice, smart, interesting. I absolutely felt like we were connecting. [Romantic chemistry] is kind of a hard question, just on one date.  Matt: The restaurant started emptying out and it was close to 11. I said we should do this again and got her number.  Jackie: He was going a couple blocks in that direction, so we walked together. We hugged and went our separate ways.  Matt: I do think that there was a romantic connection. I think it’s important for people to click as friends before there’s romance.  Matt: 5 [out of 5]. It was wonderful.  Jackie: 4. I think we had a lot in common.  Matt and Jackie have kept in touch and got together for dinner at American Tap Room. “The conversation was more personal than our first date but very much still getting to know each other,” Matt says. We’ll see if it was enough for a third. ...
At first sight, he said, “Wow!” She said, “Great!” Will the rest of this couple’s evening be as beautiful?