BUILD UPDATE:
I've had an incredibly bad go of matching up a decent front derailleur and getting everything to shift properly. My attempt at using MTB brakes, cranks, and derailleurs has failed miserably. I've now made it a 1x11, which gets it to rideable status. I blame it partly on Surly and their use of a 28.6mm seat tube, which nothing fits but road derailleurs, and those are very limited. Yes, I can shim the MTB front derailleurs, but they look dorky on that skinny tube, and consequently have difficulty shifting to the outer ring because they were meant to be used on 39.4mm tubes.
I'll get this bike on the road, but for some reason, I'm getting brain freeze over it. Maybe I should just stick to restoring old bikes instead of building new ones.
Meanwhile, do any of you have any good suggestions for a gruppo that will give me some high gear-inches on one end and nice lows on the other, and still shift right? I'd even go to a triple at this point!