Photo by Katie Hovland

Several months ago, Ground Control opened on the western edge of Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. It’s owned by the husband and wife duo of Dan Hanaway and Carrie Haase, and fans of Chicago’s punk rock community may recall Hanaway as a member of bands such as; Slapstick, The Broadways, The Honor System, Ratasucia and more. Ground Control’s menu is entirely meatless, though they don’t necessarily go out of their way to promote themselves as a vegetarian restaurant. Many of their entrees feature tofu or seitan, and they serve a variety of salads, sandwiches and pastas, plus appetizers and desserts. We met with Hanaway and talked about his inspirations for wanting to open a restaurant, as well as what it took to get Ground Control up and running, where he’d like to see his business in the future and more.

Hanaway and Haase both spent years working in various restaurants, learning what it takes to make a successful eatery. After acquiring the tricks of the trade, they decided that the time was right to open their own business. “It was probably about seven or eight years ago that we got the idea to open a restaurant,” Hanaway said. “We always said that we’d open a restaurant when we got old and now we are. We tried several times in the past, but things never worked out for whatever reason. This place has been in the works for close to two years now. We found the space over a year ago, built it and opened a couple months ago. It’s kind of been a lifelong thing that we thought would be a good idea to do.” When asked to describe Ground Control, Hanaway provided a detailed response about the restaurant’s core values, along with a dash of humor. “I think we’re just a good restaurant. We spend a lot of time making everything from scratch or as from scratch as possible. We put a lot of work in, we care a lot and we’re here all the time,” he said. “We’re not some restaurant group that just pops up a place expecting to make money. I feel like the food is really good and we try to focus on big flavors. It happens to be vegetarian as well, but we don’t really try to advertise it like that. We’re both vegetarian and that’s how we cook, but hopefully it would appeal to all types of people. And we have beer, so you can’t really go that wrong. If you hate the food just get drunk here.”

After obtaining the necessary permits, Hanaway and Haase went about hiring contractors to build their restaurant. Nine months and a few unexpected bumps in the road later, Ground Control was ready to open. When the interior was finished, it unintentionally matched the restaurant’s diverse menu. “With the dining area, we kind of loosely thought of a futuristic vibe from the ‘70s. Clockwork Orange was kind of a pseudo inspiration I guess. We started building and it was like, ‘Oh, it would be cool to put a circle in the wall’ or ‘it’d be cool to do some kind of patterned wallpaper stuff.’ I don’t know; it’s just what it turned out with, somewhat all over the place,” Hanaway said. In terms of what business has been like so far, Hanaway offered an optimistic assessment. “We opened in December and business has been up and down. We’ve had some really encouraging days and some really slow days, but that’s to be expected. Overall I would say it’s been good because we’ve had solid business,” he said. “The weekends have been great. We had a group of 40 people come in and we opened before hours and did a family style buffet. We’re starting to do more events in the space next door and we’re going to start doing brunch on the weekends. That’s kind of what we’re planning to get business rolling a little bit more, just concentrate on those two days for now until the weather gets a little bit better and more people are stopping by.”

When it comes to Ground Control’s menu, the two main ingredients are diversity and flavor. One of their most popular items is the Tofu Wings, which are available in either buffalo style or sweet and spicy BBQ. There’s also the Cheesy Italian Sandwich that features house made seitan and provolone cheese. In addition, they’ve got Baja Tacos with breaded fried tofu, as well as Smothered Sweet Potato Tacos. Other highlights include the Avocado Pineapple Salad, Beet Burger and White Bean Pasta. When asked to describe the menu, Hanaway said “It’s a little bit all over the place right now. We’re still focusing, but we have Latin and Italian options. We’ve got a handful of sandwiches and we make fresh pasta in house. I guess eclectic is how it’s been described and we’ll probably keep it like that. We recently added some stuff to the menu and we’ll probably keep adding. We get bored pretty easily. We’d like to change it up every couple of months and go from there, see what people like and see what we like making.”

Looking ahead, Hanaway hopes to expand Ground Control’s lunch menu and possibly open a bar in the space that’s adjacent to the dining room. He’d also like to extend the restaurant’s hours and be open for brunch. When speaking about why someone should try Ground Control, Hanaway said “I definitely think we’re the best vegetarian restaurant in Chicago. I think that we’re a solid restaurant, and even if you eat meat you can still get a good, hearty meal here. We have good beers, we’ve got some good wines and we’re good people. We put a lot of effort into doing this every day, probably more effort than we need to, but we promise that you’ll have a good time here.” Ground Control is located at 3315 W. Armitage Ave. They’re closed on Mondays, but are open for lunch Thursday through Sunday at 11:30 AM. On Tuesday and Wednesday they open at 4:00 PM, and most days they close at 10:00 PM, but on Fridays and Saturdays they’re open till 11:00 PM.