Ashley Christensen Explained

Ashley Christensen
Birth Place:Greensboro, North Carolina
Education:North Carolina State University
Restaurants:Poole's Diner
Beasley's Chicken & Honey
Fox Liquor Bar
Death & Taxes
Poole'side Pies
AC Restaurants
Awards:James Beard Foundation Award Best Chef: Southeast (2014), Outstanding Chef (2019)
Food & Wine Restaurants of the Year (2016)
Eater Best Chef in the Nation (2017)
Website:https://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

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

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

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

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

Personal life

In 2019, Christensen married Kaitlyn Goalen.[22]

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.[23] [24] In 2020, she partnered with the Frankie Lemmon Foundation to establish a relief fund for restaurant workers impacted by the onset of COVID-19.[25] 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.[26] [27] 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.[28] [29]

An activist on women's issues, Christensen has been outspoken about sexual harassment in the culinary world and has written columns about the issue.[30] 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".[31] 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.[32] [33] [34]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ashley Christensen Restaurants Raleigh N.C., 27601 . 2022-09-26 . en-US.
  2. Web site: Roberts . Liza . 30 November 2015 . The evolution of Ashley Christensen . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20181227231122/http://www.waltermagazine.com:80/art-and-culture/evolution-of-ashley-christensen/ . 2018-12-27 . 2020-05-13 . www.waltermagazine.com.
  3. Web site: Rosner . Helen . 2016-10-31 . Interview: Ashley Christensen Is at the Center of a Revolution . 2022-09-26 . Eater . en.
  4. Web site: Ginsburg . Eric . 2021-04-23 . Ashley Christensen Is Plotting a Restaurant Empire . 2022-09-26 . Raleigh Magazine . en-US.
  5. News: Roberts . Liza . The evolution of Ashley Christensen . Walter Magazine . 19 May 2019.
  6. Web site: Hoyle . Amanda . May 29, 2015 . CEO of the Year: Ashley Christensen . 2022-09-26 . www.bizjournals.com.
  7. Web site: 2012-10-01 . Ashley Christensen: A cultivated palate, a life of purpose . 2022-09-26 . WALTER Magazine . en-US.
  8. Web site: 2018-12-13 . How Poole's Diner Helped Launch a Raleigh Empire for Chef Ashley Christensen . 2022-09-26 . www.visitraleigh.com.
  9. Web site: Rosner . Helen . 2016-10-31 . Interview: Ashley Christensen Is at the Center of a Revolution . 2022-09-26 . Eater . en.
  10. Web site: Canavan . Hillary Dixler . 2015-06-11 . Here's How to Open a Summer Blockbuster: Ashley Christensen's Death & Taxes . 2022-09-26 . Eater . en.
  11. Web site: Khoury-Hanold . Layla . 2021-02-16 . A "Shatteringly Crisp" Fried Chicken Sandwich Is at the Heart of Ashley Christensen's New Restaurant Menu . 2022-09-26 . INDY Week . en-us.
  12. Web site: Ginsburg . Eric . 2021-04-23 . Ashley Christensen Is Plotting a Restaurant Empire . 2022-09-26 . Raleigh Magazine . en-US.
  13. News: Laskey . Margaux . 2016-09-27 . Review: The Poole's Cookbook, Reimagining Southern Classics . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-07-02 . 0362-4331.
  14. News: Puckett . Susan . April 14, 2021 . Frozen assets: Give freezer a role in your meal-planning . English . The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . 2022-07-02 . 1539-7459.
  15. Web site: January 5, 2021 . It's Always Freezer Season: How to Freeze Like a Chef with 100 Make-Ahead Recipes by Kaitlyn Goalen, Ashley Christensen . 2022-07-02 . Publishers Weekly.
  16. Web site: The 2014 James Beard Award Winners! James Beard Foundation . 2022-09-26 . www.jamesbeard.org . en.
  17. Web site: The 2016 James Beard Award Nominees James Beard Foundation . 2022-09-26 . www.jamesbeard.org . en.
  18. Web site: Drew Jackson . 5 December 2017 . Raleigh's Ashley Christensen is Eater's national Chef of the Year . News Observer.
  19. Web site: The 2018 James Beard Award Nominees James Beard Foundation . 2022-09-26 . www.jamesbeard.org . en.
  20. Web site: The 2019 James Beard Award Winners . 7 May 2019 . James Beard Foundation.
  21. Web site: Honorary Degrees Conferred . 2022-09-26 . University Leadership . en-US.
  22. Web site: 2020-02-03 . When Two Raleigh Food Stars Get Married, the Charcuterie (and the Party) Is Next-Level . 2022-09-26 . Vogue . en-US.
  23. Web site: Ashley Christensen . 2022-09-26 . Jackson Hole Food & Wine . en-US.
  24. Web site: About22 Triangle Wine & Food Experience . 2022-09-26 . en-US.
  25. Web site: Raleigh Chef Ashley Christensen Helps Launch Relief Fund for Research Triangle Restaurant Workers . 2022-09-26 . Southern Living . en.
  26. Web site: Ashley Christensen's Long-Awaited BB's Crispy Chicken Slated to Open . 2022-09-26 . MDO Holdings . 25 October 2021 . en-US.
  27. Web site: Volunteer Shepherd's Table Soup Kitchen . 2022-09-26 . en-US.
  28. Web site: 2019-09-10 . The Promise of Women-led Restaurants Southern Foodways Alliance - Southern Foodways Alliance . 2022-09-26 . en-US.
  29. Web site: Chamberlain . Chris . Nashville Welcomes Chef Ashley Christensen and Her Stir the Pot Dinners . 2022-09-26 . Nashville Scene . 5 April 2012 . en.
  30. Web site: Raleigh chef Ashley Christensen fires back after 'Just cook and be quiet' comment online . News Observer.
  31. Web site: Drew Jackson . October 26, 2017 . After celebrity chef faces harassment allegations, Chef Ashley Christensen calls on industry to 'be better' . 12 June 2018 . News Observer.
  32. News: Jackson . Drew . September 28, 2021 . Former kitchen worker at Poole's Diner alleges sexual assault at the restaurant in 2017 . 2 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210928163815/https://www.newsobserver.com/living/food-drink/article245757380.html . 28 September 2021.
  33. News: 15 September 2020 . '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 . en . WRAL.com . 2 July 2022.
  34. Web site: Edwards . Sarah . 2020-09-16 . Ashley Christensen Claims She Didn't Know Extent of Abuse at Poole's Diner After Former Employee Comes Forward . 2022-03-28 . INDY Week . en-us.

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