Ashley Christensen facts for kids

Ashley Christensen is a famous American chef, restaurant owner, and author. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, and runs AC Restaurants. This company owns several popular restaurants like Poole's Diner, Beasley's Chicken + Honey, and Death & Taxes. Ashley has won the James Beard Award twice. Many people say she helped make Raleigh a well-known place for great food.

Early Life and Education

Ashley Christensen was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. She went to North Carolina State University. While in college, she started cooking a lot. She would often host dinner parties for her friends and family. This is how she began her journey in cooking.

Career as a Chef

Ashley Christensen lives and works in Raleigh, North Carolina. She got her first job in a restaurant when she was 21 years old. Since then, she has worked to build a strong community in Raleigh through food. She also helps with charity work and has made downtown Raleigh a more exciting place.

Her cooking has been noticed by many national magazines and newspapers. These include Bon Appétit, The New York Times, and Wall Street Journal. She has also appeared on TV shows like Iron Chef America.

Her Restaurants

Ashley Christensen is the main chef and owner of AC Restaurants. This company manages all her different food places.

In 2007, she opened Poole's Diner. This restaurant was named after one of the first businesses in that building. It was also one of the first new restaurants in downtown Raleigh.

In 2011, she opened two more places: Beasley's Chicken + Honey and Fox Liquor Bar. These were in a building that used to be a grocery store in the 1940s.

Later, in 2015, AC Restaurants opened Death & Taxes. This restaurant focuses on cooking with wood fire and uses ingredients from the Southern United States. They also opened Bridge Club, which is a place for private events and cooking classes.

In 2019, Ashley opened Poole'side Pies. This restaurant, right next to Poole's Diner, serves her special Neapolitan-style pizza. In 2021, she also helped start BB's Crispy Chicken. This is a fast-food style restaurant that sells fried chicken sandwiches.

Cookbooks by Ashley

Ashley Christensen has written two cookbooks. Her first book, Poole's: Recipes and Stories from a Modern Diner, came out in 2016. Her second book, It's Always Freezer Season, was published in 2021. She wrote this book with her wife, Kaitlyn Goalen.

Awards and Honors

Ashley Christensen has received many important awards for her cooking.

• 2014: She won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in the Southeast.
• 2016: Her restaurant, Death & Taxes, was a finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant.
• 2016: Food & Wine magazine named Death & Taxes one of the Restaurants of the Year.
• 2017: Eater named her the Best Chef in the Nation.
• 2019: She won the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Chef.
• 2021: North Carolina State University gave her an honorary doctorate degree.

Personal Life and Community Work

In 2019, Ashley Christensen married Kaitlyn Goalen.

Ashley is very involved in her community. She is on the board of the Frankie Lemmon Foundation. She also helps lead their yearly fundraising event, the Triangle Wine Experience. In 2020, she worked with the Frankie Lemmon Foundation to create a special fund. This fund helped restaurant workers who were affected by the start of COVID-19.

She also serves on the board for the Dix Park Conservancy and Shepherd's Table Soup Kitchen. The soup kitchen provides hundreds of meals every day to people in downtown Raleigh who need food. Ashley is also an active member of the Southern Foodways Alliance. She started an event called Stir the Pot, where she invites other chefs to Raleigh to raise money for the SFA's projects.

Ashley is a strong supporter of women's issues. She has spoken out about unfair treatment in the cooking world. Her company, AC Restaurants, hired a special person in 2012 to help make sure all employees are treated fairly.