‘Date Plate’ serves love

Let’s face it, if people had to rely only on their cooking skills to woo a mate, there would be an awful lot of lonely souls wandering the planet. But that’s the challenge facing two young men tonight at 6:30 and 9:30 on “Date Plate,” a series debuting on the Food Network.

The perky Kelly Deadmon (“Law & Order,” “Ed”) presides over this “Love at First Bite” premise, in which two contestants watch a short video of a prospective date and try to glean clues to help them assemble the deal-clinching meal. There’s a $50 per person shopping limit for ingredients, and each contestant has a real chef on hand to offer tips on shopping and preparation.

Tonight’s premiere pits opera lover Joshua, 27, against bartender-actor-weightlifter John, 22, but future episodes will also feature women cooking up a storm in the hopes of landing a date with Mr. Right. Josh and John are vying for Hallie, 25, an associate TV producer who fashions rear ends out of wood in her spare time. (“I don’t want that to come off weird,” she protests. Alas, too late.)

If all this sounds contrived, it is, but it’s also a lot of fun. Even the shopping trip proves interesting, particularly when some subtle sparks between Joshua and his chef, Cat, seem on the verge of taking the show in an unscripted direction. Or maybe that was just my imagination boiling over.

Then comes the moment of truth, when Hallie gets a side-by-side sampling of the entrees/desserts from each contestant, and has to make her choice. The banter is a bit banal (“I like the tomatoes in it because I like tomatoes”), and the off-screen narration doesn’t help (“Tension is mounting like dirty dishes”), but the big decision comes off smoothly. And in the end (remember Hallie’s hobby?), it’s the victor’s wit that wins out, not his culinary skills.