Ashley Christensen is the owner of five restaurants in Raleigh, North Carolina: Poole’s, Beasley’s Chicken + Honey, Fox Liquor Bar, Death & Taxes, and Poole’side Pies. She has been named one of the Female Chefs of the Next Generation by Bon Appétit and Chef of the Year by Eater. Ashley has received the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast and for Outstanding Chef. She has been written up in Bon Appétit, Gourmet, the New York Times, Southern Living, and Garden & Gun, and she has appeared on Food Network’s Iron Chef America and MSNBC’s Your Business.
Kaitlyn Goalen is a writer, editor, and cook, and she is the executive director of AC Restaurants, the hospitality group founded and owned by Ashley Christensen in Raleigh, North Carolina. She co-founded the Short Stack Editions series of single-subject, digest-size cookbooks and co-authored the full-length Short Stack Cookbook. She has also co-authored Cook Like a Local, Poole’s, and The Craft Cocktail Party. She has contributed to a variety of national publications, including Garden & Gun, Southern Living, and Food & Wine.