I'm not sure if your questions were for me, but I'd started this post when I was considering the ES Smoothie and I did in fact end up buying one...so here are my responses:
Regarding the headset, no...it's not integrated. I simply had a LBS press the headset, and really...for $20 (at least at my shop), it was definitely the right thing to do. Plus, they tapped out the BB as well. I had a lot more confidence in things just knowing these two things were done correctly. I knew I could pretty much handle everything else.
I got the Soma recommended steel fork, which is from IRC, but I suppose you could find another brand if you wanted. It's a bit heavy but I didn't want carbon, so that was that.
Personally, I wanted to put my own bike together, so if you're the same then by all means forego the boutique bike shops. Plus, the bike I ended up building cost me $600 less than what the local shops were quoting me for building up the same bike with a worse gruppo and worse wheels. For what it's worth,
www.bikemania.biz had the best prices I found and that's where I got my frame and fork.
I'm never sure if these links will work, but here are a few pics from the build (the stem has been dialed in/reduced since these were taken):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8212808@N07/