Sneak peek of Shinsei restaurant on Thursday drew just about every media scalliwag in Dallas

by Teresa Gubbins

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Shinsei owners Tracy Rathbun and Lynae Fearing with Krista Stubbs

DALLAS — Is Shinsei unusually savvy at drawing a media-heavy crowd or is media spiraling into such despair that it greedily clings to the few remaining demonstrations of old-school largesse? On Thursday night, the Asian restaurant owned by Tracy Rathbun and Lynae Fearing was showing off its twice-as-big expansion (it took over a cleaners and nail salon next door) with a new dining room, lounge, and private dining area in the back. Also, chef Thomas "T.J." Lengnick introduced some new dishes such as soy-glazed salmon. Chef husbands Kent Rathbun and Dean Fearing were there, too. Good for them, but it's not like huge news in the restaurant world. Nonetheless, expect to see an onslaught of coverage because these media people attended: Connie Dufner from Modern Luxury, Dave Faries from the Observer, Jerry "Mr. Dallas" Bokamper from the DMN, Sarah Eveans from D Magazine, Jeff Bolton from KLIF, plus Manny Mendoza who used to work at the DMN (he appeared to be Mr. Dallas' man-date) and Darnell Jean, who used to work at the DMN and was shooting photos to run in PaperCity. Oh, and Pegasus News, we were there, too. Hopefully we'll score points for getting it posted first?

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Dean Fearing and Phil Cobb at Shinsei "sneak peek"

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Kendall Inman and Kent Rathbun at Shinsei "sneak peek"

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Many hands reaching for snacks served at Shinsei "sneak peek".