Ashley Christensen permanently closes downtown burger joint

James Beard Award-winning chef Ashley Christensen announced the permanent closure of her burger restaurant, Chuck's, on Tuesday.

The restaurant, located at 237 S. Wilmington St., opened in 2011 next to Christensen's Beasley's Chicken + Honey. All of Christensen's restaurants are currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic and are not serving takeout.

Christensen said Chuck's will not reopen when the pandemic restrictions lift, but will instead become an expansion space for Beasley's.

“While we love what we’ve all created at Chuck’s and appreciate what it has meant for the community, we believe that this decision is the right one for the future of our company, and our staff,” Christensen said. “We feel that we will have greater opportunity to bring more people back to work by expanding what we do at Beasley’s, and by continuing to evolve that restaurant’s offerings.”

Look for some of Chuck's menu items, including a signature burger, fries and shakes, to be added o the Beasley's menu. Since Beasley's and Chuck's shared a kitchen space, the changes will mainly be cosmetic.

There is currently no timeline for when Christensen's restaurants will reopen, but she did note that Beasley's will reopen for takeout-only at first and that former employees from both Beasley’s and Chuck’s will be rehired to work there.

Christensen also owns Death and Taxes, Poole's Diner, Fox Liquor Bar and Poole'side Pies in downtown Raleigh. She is also planning to open a series of fast-casual chicken restaurants in the Triangle.

Christensen won the 2019 James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef.