Chef TJ Lengnick Resigns from Shinsei, Going to Whiskey Cake

<strong>TJ Lengnick is leaving Shinsei to lead the kitchen of the new Whiskey Cake gastropub in Plano next month.

“I’ve loved working at Shinsei,” Lengnick says, “but I couldn’t pass up this great opportunity.”

Lengnick has been the execuchef of Shinsei since Top Chef Casey Thompson left the Shinsi kitchen about two and a half years ago. (Thompson is now the execuchef at Brownstone.)

“It’s the right time in my career to change concepts,” says Lengnick, “to move away from sushi and Asian flavors and get back to American bistro cooking.”

Whiskey Cake joins the growing stable of restaurants from Randy DeWitt and Jack Gibbons, who developed the Ranch at Las Colinas. Before the Ranch, DeWitt created Twin Peaks and Gibbons was a concept leader for Pappadeaux .

According to an insider, Whiskey Cake will feature a “new American gastropub menu” and more than 20 beers on tap when it opens in late November in the former Plano Tavern space on the west side of the Dallas North Tollway in Plano.

Whiskey Cake’s general manager will be Kevin Galvan, a former Houston’s alum.

Seems like a rocky time to leave Shinsei: World Series coming up, Super Bowl around the corner, and Duo, Shinsei’s sibling store a couple of doors down, is slated to open next month. Duo is said to be an events venue/kitchenware store with a catering arm stocked with wines, cheeses, and private label cooking ingredients from Shinsei and Shinsei’s owners’ husbands: chefs Dean Fearing and Kent Rathbun.

Whiskey Cake is located at 3601 Dallas North Parkway, Plano