Dallas restaurant Shinsei hires new chef to replace departed Top Chef veteran Casey Thompson

by Teresa Gubbins

DALLAS — Dallas Asian restaurant Shinsei has already found a replacement for departed chef Casey Thompson, veteran of Bravo reality show Top Chef: Thomas "T.J." Lengnick (as scooped by Eats, whoo-hoo for Bill A.)

Lengnick, who was out of a job after the abrupt closure of BLT, started at Shinsei last Thursday. Owners Lynae Fearing and Tracy Rathbun were familiar with him because he'd worked at Jasper's in Plano, owned by Tracy's husband Kent.

Sorry, T.J., it's probably not fair to run a photo of Casey on an item that's ostensibly about you but 1. got no photos of you and 2. it's 99% more likely that Casey is cuter.

Lengnick, who has also worked at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse and Nana, will be responsible for all the non-sushi items on Shinsei's menu, with the sushi overseen of Shuji "Elvis" Sugawara.

"After working with Doug Brown at Nana, that got me into the Asian deal," Lengnick says. "Right now we're going to roll with the menu we've got, but we'll change out some of the specials."

Lengnick also worked at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse; Shinsei will be the first place he's worked that's owned by women.

"I’ve always been a ladies' man, I can deal with that," he says.

Casey Thompson is supposedly headed for Central 214, the restaurant at the Hotel Palomar, to replace recently-departed chef Tom Fleming; but a Kimpton spokesperson said that no hire had been finalized yet.