THE WEEKLY DISH

TOM SIETSEMA

READY, SET, WAIT!: Delays of just about everything have kept the much-awaited Agraria (3000 K St. NW; 202-298-0003) from opening in Georgetown's Washington Harbour. Some rugs got stuck in U.S. Customs. Artwork has yet to arrive. And there's the little matter of not having a chef: Paul Morello , recruited from Les Halles , bowed out around the anticipated launch time of Memorial Day. "It was an amicable divorce," says Tom Prescott , project manager for the restaurant, which is the brainchild of the North Dakota Farmers Union and an attempt to promote the family farmer. And why would a group representing 39,000 farmers in the 39th state to join the Union choose Washington to showcase its beef, flour and other commodities? "Fargo is not the best place to do that," Prescott said.

The general public will have to wait until Friday to get a taste of Agraria, which will serve a limited bistro menu and also feature ingredients from beyond North Dakota; Prescott has a short list of chef candidates and expects to announce his choice this week. Already in place: an interior designed by Adamstein & Demetriou and a sommelier in the form of Derek Brown , late of Firefly .

UNDER THE RADAR: After a nearly two-year absence from the restaurant scene, Peter Smith expects to be cooking again later this summer, in a place of his own called PS7's (900 Seventh St. NW). The unusual name has nothing to do with public schools and everything to do with the chef's initials and the restaurant's street address, the 36-year-old Smith told us last week. But that's about all the tight-lipped veteran of Vidalia cared to share. Asked about the interior, the chef said only that his 120-seat dining room would be "different to D.C." As for the food, "I'm still playing with it," he said, hinting that small plates and tasting menus might be part of the project. Smith will be borrowing a kitchen above the glamorous 2941 restaurant in Falls Church to rehearse his ideas as construction is completed on PS7's. The chef became downright chatty when we asked about his time off. "I had the rare opportunity to spend the first year" with a new addition to the family. One-year-old Lucy Catharine "loves to watch me cook," he said. Another bonus: "I got to go out for dinner with my friends."