Rick Nelson and Claude Peck dispense unasked-for advice about clothing, etiquette, culture, relationships, grooming and more.

RN: Did you see that message from our friend Susie?

CP: If you refer to her "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" SOS, the answer is yes. I've been racking my brain to come up with ideal spots for Twin Cities women to meet the mens. Did you get back to her yet?

RN: Unh-unh. It's a few notches above our pay grade, isn't it? Why not just ask us for recommendations on the metro area's best brain surgeons?

CP: I know. If she wondered about the opening date of the new Michael Kors store at Southdale, we both would have dinged her back within seconds, but this one is a puzzler. Especially since she insists that they be actual places, not websites.

RN: I'm going to suggest that she camp out at Target Field. Baseball fans are glued to the talent down on the diamond, but if I were a single het gal, I'd be focusing on all the spectacular spectator talent up in the stands. Yowza.

CP: She should beeline to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. For one, it's free. For another, it's easy, while pretending to be studying the Doryphoros, to in fact be perusing an art-loving guy's Grecian form. Plus, there are ample ops for chit-chat, as in "what do you think of the new ukiyo-e prints?"

RN: I'd offer the old join-a-gym routine, but with caution. She could end up at our House O' Fitness, where she'll meet plenty of great guys, although the vast majority of them will notice her Lululemon workout gear and not what's underneath it, if you know what I mean.

CP: Unless she wants to meet gay men and straight women, she'll need to join another gym.

RN: Totally. Sometimes I think membership in our gym includes a free subscription to either Out or Self magazines.

CP: Then there are nightspots. From what I'm hearing, gay bars are now chock-full of straight guys. What's a woman to do?

RN: Other than work on her gaydar? Cope, which is what we did when bachelorette parties thought that partying at gay bars was edgy. Nothing cleared the dance floor at the Gay 90's faster than the sight of a blitzed bridezilla-to-be wearing one of those disposable bridal veils, hoping to hear the DJ play "YMCA," because she knows the hand motions. But I digress.

CP: As is your wont. I thought you'd be a reliable source on the swellest eateries with the greatest bar scenes for those who enjoy opposite-sex interactions.

RN: Good idea. I'd send her to a place with a conversation-friendly kitchen counter. You know, Travail, Tilia, Bar La Grassa, Sea Change, blah blah blah, where she can enjoy a good meal and chat with the hottie seated next to her. At the very least, she can hit on a sous chef. He'll know how to make scrambled eggs in the morning.

E-mail: witheringglance@startribune.com • Twitter: @claudepeck and @RickNelsonStrib