I was considering a Surly Pacer, but eventually went with the Soma Smoothie ES and the carbon fork option. The Soma's been pretty good. I could even do some cyclocross with it, it can handle 34mm 'cross tires with the fenders off. Here it is with 700 x 28s and the narrowest SKS full fenders, chillin' in the garden:
One of the nice things about the silver frame is that silver reflective tape (Reflexite V82 in this instance) blends in pretty well
I usually use a rigid mountain bike for grocery hauling, but yesterday I took the Soma. With two panniers, a U-lock, and maybe 15 pounds of food in back, it was still stable. If I could change anything on this frame, I'd like:
1) a separate seat collar, instead of built-in ears for a 6mm bolt
2) a third bottle mount on the underside of the downtube