HIGHLAND PARK, N.J. — Alaska Jay is in love.

Last year, Jay Ramras traveled from Fairbanks to New York City in search of a nice Jewish girl. For three months, he wined and dined dates while searching for a mate.

He was featured on local television news shows, in magazines and other media on his quest for his Jewish soul mate.

He sublet an Upper West Side apartment and went on at least 50 dates in the first eight weeks of his sojourn.

Ramras, 34, owns several restaurants in Alaska. He graduated from Syracuse University in New York and grew up in Alaska.

While he likes the outdoors, he's not the blue-jean clad backwoods guy you might imagine. Ramras' eateries are similar to TGI Fridays and are in urban and suburban centers.

Ramras is active in building up his synagogue and the Alaskan Jewish community. He's also helped organize a statewide jazz festival.

But while there's plenty of culture in the Land of the Midnight Sun, there are few single Jews. In a state where men outnumber women 5-to-3, finding a Jewish woman to marry is even more difficult.

Hence his quest that brought him to New York.

While visiting, he met a woman who's "wonderful."

She has asked Ramras not to divulge details of her life. Being the gentleman that he is, Ramras didn't dish the dirt.

"She's a private person and I try to respect her wishes," Ramras said by telephone from Fairbanks. "We've been seeing each other seven months. It's going good."

In April, she even went to Alaska for a visit. Meanwhile, they've got to deal with the distance between their homes, as well as some cultural differences.

It might be difficult, but Ramras is giving it his best shot. As he said in September, "It's been the best seven months of my life."