I’ve got a first date with a woman tomorrow night at an Italian place in Evanston. She chose it so I know she likes the food. She is a pesco vegetarian.
My absolute favorite thing on their menu is a chicken dish with marsala wine, garlic and mushrooms. Do I order it or stick to marinara and pasta? This is for a first date scenario only, if we go out more, I would eat meat, although not pressure her in any way to do the same.
Order the chicken, of course.
Try something veggie! Everything in a good Italian restaurant’s gonna be good. It shows you’re considerate and willing to try something vegetarian (like her!).
But generally, you’re probably going to be OK ordering chicken, especially if she’s a pesco vegetarian and not a vegan. Not a big deal.
Ask her if she minds your ordering the chicken. If she does, it probably wasn’t going to work out anyway.
+1
+2
OR, if you want to score Cool Date Points but also reserve your right to eat flesh, say something like, “I really like their Chicken Marsala, but I’m intrigued by vegetarian options, too. What would you suggest?”
And Cool Date Points to her if she replies, “Well, the ____ is divine, but if you want chicken, by all means, order the chicken!”
Good advice. Now, if he were going to order a bloody steak… I might understand how that would make a vegetarian a bit nauseous (or some pregnant women).
Ideally, she will find your asking both funny and considerate and swat you away with a ‘What? order what you want!’ especially since she chose the restaurant. Or she will sit and glare at you all through dinner mumbling ‘Ugh… how can you eat that?’
If your choice of entree elicites a negative response then you probably don’t want to date the person anyway.
This, or what ultrafilter said.
The response to you ordering meat all depends on the vegetarian, and perhaps on the reasons behind the choice to be one. I’m a vegetarian for a variety of reasons and yet I prepare meat for my omnivorous husband and have made sausage by hand in the past. A friend of mine is a vegetarian with an omnivorous partner, but will not even allow meat in their house. (She does the cooking so at least that’s a responsibility she shoulders, to feed both of them and keep them happy with the culinary choices.)
I agree with this. I’m a fish-eatin’ vegetarian too and I really don’t care what other people eat around me. I might get icked out though if Fianceephone ate meat, because the smell of it cooking in my own home would be a bit hard to stomach.
If the woman doesn’t want you to eat meat in her presence and you plan on being a meat eater forever, it ain’t gonna work out.
ETA: And I agree with WhyNot’s cool date points. It’s courteous to ask if you’ll offend her by eating meat, and a good sign if she’ll support your meat-eating decision.
I think the best of all worlds is to start by asking her what looks good on the vegetarian part of the menu. You show you’re not a vegetarian, but you look good by showing that you’re willing to try new things, and you also get to find out her reaction. If my experience is any guide, she’ll be fine with it and you’re overthinking this. 
Which restaurant are you going to, by the way?
No, no, no - You should get a nice Carpaccio appetizer, and Veal Saltimbocca for your main course. Make sure to order the same for the lady. Tell her she can pick out the non-meat bits if she wants to.
A couple of my girlfriends are vegetarian and this is a non-issue; regardless of your reasoning (health, politics, etc.) it is always considered rude to comment negatively on what someone else is eating. Particularly on a first date. If anything, they are relieved when nobody tries to make them eat meat, or grills them as to why they don’t want to.
You could ask her for a vegetarian selection, and/or ask her if she minds if you order the chicken, but you don’t have to. It’s polite and she may appreciate it, but as other posters have said, if she says anything but “Please, order what you’d like!” then you may as well bail out now. There are many reasons people are vegetarian, and not one of them is reason enough to make other people feel uncomfortable for not being one.
(The same is true of omnivores, of course.)
Eh, if she eats fish, she’d be dumb and hypocritical to be upset about you eating chicken. Sounds more like a veggie who just doesn’t like meat or is trying to be healthy rather than an animal rights activist kind of veggie.
Bingo.
Like everyone else basically said, if she throws a hissy about you eating meat on the first date, then it ain’t meant to be.
Unless you’re like;
*I’ll take the whole baby cow stuffed with chicken, suckling pig and fresh hatched duckling…as rare as you can legally serve it.
Mmmm…look at that baby over there. Doesn’t it look delicious?*
*Especially *for MikeG, to take this out of the realm of generalities and to address him specifically. I mean, I don’t know him all that well, but I know he’s a gourmet gourmand who loves food and going out to restaurants and eating lots of different foods, including many types of dead animals. I can’t see him turning veg any time this century. If she’s not cool with that, like really, really cool with that, I can’t imagine them dating long or successfully.
If it was a guy like my husband, who’s just as happy eating veg as eating omnivore, and will eat whatever’s easier, then he would stand a chance with a meat-hating vegetarian. MikeG? Not so much, I’m thinkin’. 
I was going to say shrimp scampi or shrimp alfredo but ultrafilter’s answer is better.
Heh, as much as I like meat, some of my favorite dishes are vegetarian. Probably the best thing I make is braised tofu with green onions and black mushrooms.
Thanks for the tips, I’m gonna ask her if she minds and order the Chicken Marsuvio (it’s an unholy mix of marsala and vesuvio that is out of this world.
For the locals, we are going to Dave’s Italian Kitchen. It’s not super fancy by any stretch but it’s a fun and laid back date place. I’ve been going there for going on 25 years now through two or three locations.
ETA: one of my very good friends is dating a vegetarian fella and they are doing jsut fine. We have gone out for BBQ and mussels at various times:) Her good results are what prompted me to say yes when the woman I am seeing tomorrow gave me her card and told me to call her.
The next mile marker is the good night kiss.
If she’s “cool” with you ordering meat, but then makes a fuss about the possibility of being kissed by someone with meat on their breath…sorry, bye now.
Agreed. If she has a problem with you eating meat - she’s a hypocrite. Eating fish isn’t any less cruel than eating meat from a cow, chicken, lamb, rabbit, lizard or any other animal. It was still a living, breathing animal before it ended up on her plate. Pescaterian is a stupid word IMO - she’s an omnivore that avoids meat and chicken. Vegetarian = no animal flesh.
Unless you’re willing to change your eating habits, just be yourself - it’s a first date after all. I’m a vegetarian (since October 07) and while I appreciate that Mr J is eating less meat these days, I don’t expect him to feel exactly the same way I do about eating animals. He doesn’t criticize my eating habits and I don’t try to change his… well, he does occasionally taunt me with calamari but he’s also the first one to stick up for my choice to become a vegetarian if it comes up in conversation.