Clearly, it wasn’t the dish's authenticity that was making Paul's dates swoon. "It's the details," he says. "It's not about going out and making a million courses…it's about showing complexity." To that end, he continues, if he really liked the girl, he'd make her a green salad strewn with edible flowers. "She'd see that, and boom! I'm hand-feeding her flowers before I have the chicken out of the oven," he says, laughing.

Edible flowers are what John would call a "panty remover." An accomplished cook, John has got quite a few of his own. They include: flambé (lighting something—anything—on fire), the old pan flip (where you toss hot ingredients in the pan like a star on the Food Network), even chopping a few vegetables. "I'll precook almost everything, but leave whatever high-heat sautéing or simple chopping I have until she gets here. Then she sits in my kitchen, drinking wine, and watching." His last meal that closed the deal: lamb shanks with creamy mashed potatoes and caramelized carrots—though he admits that his date gave him a nice…er…reward for a great seared salmon dish.

Paul's closer worked so well that today he's married to one of the women who sampled the famous rollatini. But that doesn't mean the closer is a thing of the past. "My wife and I cook together, and I think it's key in the relationship. When you cook together, you're communicating," he says. "Even if something bad is going on, you're working towards a common goal: getting through this conversation, and getting fed."

And when things get really bad? He brings out the rollatini, the edible flowers, and, OK, some jewelry—and closes the deal again.