Pie in the Winter Sky: Wilton's Best Pizzas

Whether you are looking for a quick slice on a busy night or are a true pizza aficionado, Wilton has a full range of choices for you.

Pizzas available in town range from your standard, fresh and tasty pie to more exotic, award-winning and even healthy pies. We sampled a variety of them and here's what we found:

Tom E Toes is your best bet for a standard, crisp, fresh and cheesy pizza. If you've got kids and they like great taste without the bells and whistles some adults prefer, this is the stop for you. Their crust is crispy and on the thin side with just enough marinara and cheese to please anyone. If you want to please the kids but your tastes are slightly more exotic, order the gourmet Ratatouille pie - a thin-crust heaped with eggplant, zucchini, sweet onion, fresh plum tomatoes and garlic. You won't be disappointed. We certainly weren't.

Wilton Pizza and Pasta Jazzeria is the sister store to Georgetown's Toozy Patza Pizza and Ridgefield's Piccolo. This uber-successful mini-chain boasts scores of devotees and now we know why. Their freshly-made pies are generously sized and well-priced. We tried one with eggplant and fresh tomatoes and it was incredible. The crisp-crust featured large chunks of breaded and fried eggplant that weren't overwhelmed by the fresh tomatoes. Perhaps it was because of the heartier, chewier dough recipe but the crust really stood up to the heavy toppings we chose. This pie had just the right amout of saltiness and tanginess (I often feel that pizza needs extra salt) and not too much cheese. A classic. Wilton Pizza also offers unusual toppings such as pine nuts, capers, steak strips, penne ala vodka and hot cherry peppers and a friendly staff.

Pinocchio Pizza has the most unusual, gourmet and award-winning offerings. The friendly counter staff seemed thrilled to tell me how their chef had recently won a "World's Best Pizza" award at a competition in Salsomaggiore, Italy and how he was about to compete again in Las Vegas for an American title.

We chose the "Brunello Pizza" off of the "Award Winning Pizzas" menu. Though a bit pricy at $23 for the one size they had available, this pie was the hands-down, all-around winner for us. The thick, rectangular delicacy (the crust is thicker than a regular pie but not as thick as a Sicilian-style) is a true foodie gem. Almost unlike eating what most of us consider pizza, it featured a generous smattering of pitted, sliced, fresh green olives, salami picante layered under the cheese, sun-dried tomatoes that were chewy but not hard, hand-crushed San Marzano tomatoes and burrato cheese, a creamy cheese that tastes somewhere between a brie and a ricotta. The cheese really put it over the top for us. It was outstanding.

Additionally, the shop gave us a sealed red envelope before we left, "a gift for next time. Bring it in but don't open it," the cashier said with a smile. Well, we opened it for journalism's sake and, it turns out, we would've received a free appetizer on our next visit. Perhaps we could've tried the Toasted Ravioli or the Fried Zucchini.

Portofino restaurant is known more for its fine, sit-down Italian dining than its pizza, perhaps, but we sampled a personal salad pizza from this well-known eatery just for kicks. The thin-crust delicacy, from the gourmet pizza menu, might have held up better if we'd eaten it in the restaurant rather than having it take-away. It had an extremely thin crust, which is likely great for those watching their calories, but it didn't hold up to the tangy, balsamic vinaigrette dressing on the baby greens, arugula, carrot and radish salad. By the time we got the pie home, it had become soggy in the middle and needed support from a second hand. Once we got past the soggy middle bit, we were pleased with the crunchy, thin crust and the tanginess of the salad - "it's like having salad scooped up on great breadsticks," said one tester. This selection, like all salad pizzas, doesn't make good leftovers - so eat it all and eat it immediately.

No matter what kind of pie you like, Wilton has a pizza place for you. Now, get out there and eat now that you know where to go!