The Returning Ground Round Is Bringing Back an Iconic Dessert

SHREWSBURY, MA (WBSM) — As Massachusetts prepares for the impending return of its beloved Ground Round later this month, the restaurant has made a cool announcement that will warm the heart of any Gen X kid.

The Ground Round officially opens on April 30, but has had some limited-seating, limited-hours preview nights recently in preparation. It’s only one location, in Shrewsbury, a far cry from the hundreds of nationwide locations from its 1980s and 90s heyday.

There are still a few other Ground Rounds in other parts of the country, apparently, but Shrewsbury’s Joe and Nachi Shea purchased the rights and trademarks to the chain in order to bring it back to Massachusetts.

READ MORE: Massachusetts Is Getting a Ground Round Once Again

Now, Ground Round has announced that one of its most iconic dishes will be returning as well.

The Ground Round’s dessert menu will feature the restaurant’s famous “baseball cap sundae,” featuring vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a cherry served in a plastic baseball helmet.

The nostalgic nosh will run you $7.

Once known as the “Slider Sundae,” it was the highlight of any trip to Ground Round. After your dinner was over, you’d order one and watch the Looney Tunes cartoons on the big screen while you awaited its arrival. Of course, most New England kids hoped it would arrive in a plastic Red Sox cap, but you never could guarantee it. Personally, I think I got more Montreal Expos or Chicago Cubs caps than anything else.

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This time around, it appears the plastic caps are no longer Major League Baseball-affiliated. A photo posted on the Ground Round Facebook page shows a sticker with a generic baseball character on it; a commenter stated they received just a plain red cap with no sticker at all. The Ground Round responded with a comment stating that soon, the caps would have a permanent affiliation with the Worcester Red Sox.

A delicious dessert that also shows your WooSox fandom? Sounds like a win-win.

The Ground Round has also posted its menu, which outside of the baseball cap sundae seems less like nostalgia and more like the fare you’d find at most family-friendly pub-style restaurants these days.

However, it is just the preview menu, so perhaps there will be more classic items offered once Ground Round opens for real. Having a Ground Round without the classic French dip sandwich just wouldn’t be the same.

It also remains to be seen if some of the other Ground Round favorites return, such as Bingo the Clown, Kids Pay What They Weigh Night, cinnamon dippers, pre-meal popcorn and those classic cartoons on the big screen.

In today’s time of peanut allergies, it’s probably unlikely we’ll see the big barrel of peanuts and the shells strewn all over the floor, but I always preferred the popcorn anyway.