Five Bites On Friday

Dana Ellyn's self portrait

Since I've admired her work through a gallery window before, it's a treat to have local artist Dana Ellyn offer her Five Bites today. Ellyn left a corporate job in 2002 to paint full time. Check out her WaPo interview about her presidential paintings here. Ellyn's list is vegetarian, "which in DC is quite limiting. So many restaurants offer little choice for us veggies," she writes. "But, I've found my favorite dishes and favorite places and I'm happy to revisit them over and over."

1. Fire and smoke pizza at Matchbox

2. Palak chaat at Rasika

3. Tempeh panini at Busboys & Poets

4. Shepherd's pie at Vegetate

5. Turkish coffee chocolate cake at Zaytinya

Five Bites is a place for Metrocurean readers — and DC's top chefs — to share all the delicious things they've been eating and drinking. E-mail five of your favorites and whether you'd like your name and a picture included to metrocurean AT gmail.com.

Stay tuned later today for Five Bites from Top Chef contestants Mike Isabella of Zaytinya and Bryan Voltaggio of Volt.