AC Restaurants (Ashley Christensen Restaurants) Employee Directory

RestaurantsNorth Carolina, United States11-50 Employees

Ashley Christensen Restaurants is a Raleigh, NC-based restaurant group owned and operated by award-winning chef Ashley Christensen. We seek to enrich and promote positive change in our community through crafting quality food and beverage experiences.

AC Restaurants came into being in 2007, when Ashley opened Poole's Diner, a modern ode to comfort food classics housed in a historic downtown Raleigh building. Originally opened as Poole's Pie Shop in 1945, the space has long been a Raleigh landmark where generations of locals have gathered to dine, celebrate, and connect. Under Ashley's stewardship, Poole's has honored the spirit of its comfort food roots while elevating the experience through seasonal, locally sourced ingredients and French-influenced technique. In 2024, Poole's reached a major milestone by expanding into the adjoining building, introducing a wood-fired oven and a thoughtful redesign. The restaurant was also named the best diner in North Carolina by Southern Living's "South's Best" 2024 Awards, and earned a Michelin recommendation in 2025. 

AC Restaurants introduced Death & Taxes, a restaurant celebrating wood-fire cooking with Southern ingredients, in the summer of 2015. Housed in a historic downtown building that once served as a bank and later a funeral home, the 60-seat restaurant features an open kitchen, an extensive cocktail and wine program, and a menu anchored by locally sourced meats, fish, and vegetables. In its first year of operation, Death & Taxes was named a finalist for the James Beard Foundation's prestigious Best New Restaurant award, and Food & Wine magazine pronounced it one of the best new restaurants of the year. In this years since, it has consistently been cited as one of the area’s best restaurants. In 2026, it was listed on News & Observer’s 50 Top Restaurants in the Triangle.

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