With his boyish grin and crew cut, executive chef Russel Cunningham at Agraria talks animatedly about his Texas childhood, his grandfather’s barbecue restaurant and his love for motorcycles. But his enthusiasm ramps up when talk turns to cooking, especially to handling farm-fresh food.

That’s his express mission at this farm-to-table restaurant, the first farmer-owned restaurant in Washington. (Its sister restaurant is the recently opened Founding Farmers in the IMF Building.)