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Ashley Christensen

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Ashley Christensen
Born
Greensboro, North Carolina
EducationNorth Carolina State University
Culinary career
Current restaurant(s)
  • Poole's Diner
    Beasley's Chicken & Honey
    Fox Liquor Bar
    Death & Taxes
    Poole'side Pies
    AC Restaurants
Award(s) won
Websitehttps://ac-restaurants.com

Ashley Christensen is an American chef, restaurateur, author, and culinary celebrity. She is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the chef + proprietor of AC Restaurants, a hospitality group that operates Poole's Diner, Fox Liquor Bar, Beasley's Chicken + Honey, Death & Taxes, Poole'side Pies, and AC Events.[1][2] A two-time James Beard Award winner, she is widely credited for helping to put Raleigh's food scene on the map.[3][4]

Early life and education

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Christensen was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. She attended North Carolina State University, where she began cooking by throwing dinner parties for her friends and family.[5]

Career

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Christensen lives and works in Raleigh, North Carolina, having taken her first restaurant job at the age of 21. Since making Raleigh her home, she has sought to foster community through food, philanthropy, and the stimulation of the city's downtown neighborhood.[6][7] Her work has gained national attention from such publications as Bon Appétit, Gourmet, The New York Times, Southern Living, Wall Street Journal, and Garden & Gun. She has also appeared on Food Network's popular series Iron Chef America and MSNBC's Your Business.

Restaurants

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Christensen is the chef and proprietor of AC Restaurants, a hospitality group. In 2007, she opened Poole's Diner, named for one of the building's original tenants and one of downtown Raleigh's first restaurants.[8] In 2011, she opened her next projects, Beasley's Chicken + Honey and Fox Liquor Bar, in a corner building once occupied by a Piggly-Wiggly in the 1940s.[9]

In 2015, AC Restaurants opened Death & Taxes, a restaurant celebrating wood-fire cooking with Southern ingredients, and Bridge Club, a private events loft and cooking classroom.[10] In 2019, she opened Poole'side Pies, featuring Christensen's take on Neapolitan-style pizza, next door to Poole's Diner. She co-founded BB's Crispy Chicken, a fast-casual fried chicken sandwich concept with locations slated for all over the Triangle, in 2021.[11][12]

Cookbooks

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Christensen is the author of two cookbooks, Poole's: Recipes and Stories from a Modern Diner (2016),[13] and It's Always Freezer Season, co-authored with her wife, Kaitlyn Goalen (2021).[14][15]

Awards, nominations & accolades

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Personal life

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In 2019, Christensen married Kaitlyn Goalen.[23]

Christensen has served as a board member of the Frankie Lemmon Foundation and is a co-chair of its annual fundraising event, Triangle Wine Experience.[24][25] In 2020, she partnered with the Frankie Lemmon Foundation to establish a relief fund for restaurant workers impacted by the onset of COVID-19.[26] She is also on the board for the Dix Park Conservancy and Shepherd's Table Soup Kitchen, which serves 200 to 300 meals daily to downtown Raleigh's food-insecure population.[27][28] She is also an active member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and founded its biannual event Stir the Pot, in which she hosts visiting chefs in Raleigh to raise funds for the SFA's documentary initiatives.[29][30]

An activist on women's issues, Christensen has been outspoken about sexual harassment in the culinary world and has written columns about the issue.[31] Her own company, AC Restaurants, employed an HR specialist in 2012 to ensure that "situations between employees" can be dealt with "in a truly neutral manner".[32] In 2020, a former employee alleged having been sexually assaulted multiple times by two different employees while working at Poole's in 2017. Christensen acknowledged failings in the company's policies and announced changes that the company was taking.[33][34][35]

References

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  1. ^ "Ashley Christensen Restaurants | Raleigh N.C., 27601". Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  2. ^ Roberts, Liza (30 November 2015). "The evolution of Ashley Christensen". www.waltermagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2018-12-27. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
  3. ^ Rosner, Helen (2016-10-31). "Interview: Ashley Christensen Is at the Center of a Revolution". Eater. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  4. ^ Ginsburg, Eric (2021-04-23). "Ashley Christensen Is Plotting a Restaurant Empire". Raleigh Magazine. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  5. ^ Roberts, Liza. "The evolution of Ashley Christensen". Walter Magazine. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  6. ^ Hoyle, Amanda (May 29, 2015). "CEO of the Year: Ashley Christensen". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  7. ^ "Ashley Christensen: A cultivated palate, a life of purpose". WALTER Magazine. 2012-10-01. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  8. ^ "How Poole's Diner Helped Launch a Raleigh Empire for Chef Ashley Christensen". www.visitraleigh.com. 2018-12-13. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  9. ^ Rosner, Helen (2016-10-31). "Interview: Ashley Christensen Is at the Center of a Revolution". Eater. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  10. ^ Canavan, Hillary Dixler (2015-06-11). "Here's How to Open a Summer Blockbuster: Ashley Christensen's Death & Taxes". Eater. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  11. ^ Khoury-Hanold, Layla (2021-02-16). "A "Shatteringly Crisp" Fried Chicken Sandwich Is at the Heart of Ashley Christensen's New Restaurant Menu". INDY Week. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  12. ^ Ginsburg, Eric (2021-04-23). "Ashley Christensen Is Plotting a Restaurant Empire". Raleigh Magazine. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  13. ^ Laskey, Margaux (2016-09-27). "Review: The Poole's Cookbook, Reimagining Southern Classics". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
  14. ^ Puckett, Susan (April 14, 2021). "Frozen assets: Give freezer a role in your meal-planning". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ISSN 1539-7459. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
  15. ^ "It's Always Freezer Season: How to Freeze Like a Chef with 100 Make-Ahead Recipes by Kaitlyn Goalen, Ashley Christensen". Publishers Weekly. January 5, 2021. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
  16. ^ "The 2014 James Beard Award Winners! | James Beard Foundation". www.jamesbeard.org. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  17. ^ "The 2016 James Beard Award Nominees | James Beard Foundation". www.jamesbeard.org. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  18. ^ Food & Wine reveals best new restaurants of 2016, 8 June 2016, retrieved 2022-09-26
  19. ^ Drew Jackson (5 December 2017). "Raleigh's Ashley Christensen is Eater's national Chef of the Year". News Observer.
  20. ^ "The 2018 James Beard Award Nominees | James Beard Foundation". www.jamesbeard.org. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  21. ^ "The 2019 James Beard Award Winners". James Beard Foundation. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  22. ^ "Honorary Degrees Conferred". University Leadership. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  23. ^ "When Two Raleigh Food Stars Get Married, the Charcuterie (and the Party) Is Next-Level". Vogue. 2020-02-03. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  24. ^ "Ashley Christensen". Jackson Hole Food & Wine. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  25. ^ "About22 | Triangle Wine & Food Experience". Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  26. ^ "Raleigh Chef Ashley Christensen Helps Launch Relief Fund for Research Triangle Restaurant Workers". Southern Living. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  27. ^ "Ashley Christensen's Long-Awaited BB's Crispy Chicken Slated to Open". MDO Holdings. 25 October 2021. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  28. ^ "Volunteer | Shepherd's Table Soup Kitchen". Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  29. ^ "The Promise of Women-led Restaurants | Southern Foodways Alliance - Southern Foodways Alliance". 2019-09-10. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  30. ^ Chamberlain, Chris (5 April 2012). "Nashville Welcomes Chef Ashley Christensen and Her Stir the Pot Dinners". Nashville Scene. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  31. ^ "Raleigh chef Ashley Christensen fires back after 'Just cook and be quiet' comment online". News Observer.
  32. ^ Drew Jackson (October 26, 2017). "After celebrity chef faces harassment allegations, Chef Ashley Christensen calls on industry to 'be better'". News Observer. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  33. ^ Jackson, Drew (September 28, 2021). "Former kitchen worker at Poole's Diner alleges sexual assault at the restaurant in 2017". Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  34. ^ "'We didn't know' is not an excuse: Ashley Christensen responds to former Poole's Diner employee's assault claim :: Out and About at WRAL.com". WRAL.com. 15 September 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  35. ^ Edwards, Sarah (2020-09-16). "Ashley Christensen Claims She Didn't Know Extent of Abuse at Poole's Diner After Former Employee Comes Forward". INDY Week. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
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