Take me out to the Round-Up, where baseball and comfort food combine

Savouring Surrey is a week-long series looking at the history and the future of Surrey through its many restaurants and the people who make up the diverse community.

If you want to know Surrey, lunch at one of the oldest restaurants in the city is a great place to start.

The Round-Up first opened in 1949.

WhenOrestandGoldieSpringenaticpurchased the 10-year-old restaurant on King GeorgeBoulevardin 1959, it was mostly about getting away from their gruelling work for CN Rail in Boston Bar.

Goldiesaw an ad in a Vancouver newspaper, and off they went.

The couple met and married in small town Saskatchewan and took their love of hard workand baseball to their new homes: a growing city on the west coast of B.C. and the Round-Up Cafe.

Goldie laughs now at how it almost didn'thappen.

"Maybe if we had been in Surrey before we wouldn'thave bought it. Because it was a totally different atmosphere from our bringing up and what our life was like. It was a little bit of a disruption."

Hard work and a baseball bat

The Spingrenatics kept the restaurantopen 24 hours a day for the first 30 years.

The couple and their four children put their roots down in Surrey despitesome early challenges.

"At nights when my husband would have to come to work he would always bring a baseball bat. He never had to use it, but there were always things going on...a lot of things going on," Goldie said.

Orest would eventually take that bat to the baseball diamond where he became a little league coach.Some days he would skip sleep and go straight from the cafe to coach.

The Whalley Little League team he coached wentto the World Series many times, and Orest's sons also played on the team.

On the menu:GrandSlamwitches

Photos of baseball cover the walls, and the menu reflects the couple's dual passions of comfort foodandUkrainian treats to reflect Orest's heritage.

There are the Salads in Spring Training, Grand Slamwitches, Umpire's Choice and Dougout Delight.

Orest died more than two decades ago and since then, Goldie has continued to be a fixture attherestaurant, nowmanagedby a long-time staff member.

Goldie makes it in most days to help out and say hi to the customers.

"The fellas that have played baseball little league in the senior division,they'll come in dressed insuits, [nowadays] they're lawyers, they're doctors, and they always drop by and give me a hug."

Other stories in the Savouring Surrey series:

• Surrey's Indian cuisine: Food solace for the new girl in town
• Afghan Kitchen's unique culinary offerings keep business and family together
• So you think pizza is Italian? Surrey says think again
• This new restaurant is selling chicken Marsala with a side of Surrey pride