Happy National Pizza Day! Well, almost. The official National Pizza Day (yes, there is  "Day" specified for everything) is Feb. 9. We're happy to offer some of our favorite pies as you gear up for the celebration.

Spicy Thai Chicken Pizza

Daddy Jack's, 181 Bank St., New London

The Big Man can bring it in so many ways — and his wood-fired pies are devilishly fine. On the less traditional side, Jack oven roasts delicate chicken breast and sprinkles savory hunks across a fertile meadow of mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Savory nuances are added by garlic and fresh basil, and the whole enchantment is flourished with a tangy Thai peanut sauce. You WILL eat the whole thing, whether you order small or large.

— Rick Koster

Two Wives Pizza

45 Huntington St., New London

I hit Two Wives Pizza in New London for a few reasons: I love their panzanella salad, their desserts are beautiful, their pizza is crafted with care, and the menu of options is fantastic. For starters, you've got to love a place that gladly offers whole-wheat crust, vegan cheese, and gluten-free dough as pizza-customization options. Even if you get a regular old margharita, full-flour pizza, you get a flavorful take on that classic made with quality ingredients and a perfectly baked crust. However, if you prefer to get a little crazy with your pizza, Two Wives has you covered with intriguing options like a mac and cheese pizza (crust topped with house-made cheese sauce and macaroni); the special seasonal Thanksgiving pizza (topped with all the highlights of a turkey dinner); or the Black and Blue, topped with, among other items, steak and gorgonzola cheese.

Pizza as art, anyone?

— Marisa Nadolny

Grilled Vegetable Pizza

Pizza Place, 43 Broad St., Westerly

Growing up in the 1990s, it was always clear to me that veggie pizza had a branding issue: it was for people like your hippie aunt and the menagerie of friends she brought to family parties (the ones with constellations for names). If you were caught eating the stuff, it's because you didn't get to the kitchen quick enough before the other kids finished all the pepperoni. Either that or you were being punished ("Veggie Pizza: The Official Pie of Wayward Children").

But those days of soggy, wilting crusts topped indiscriminately with spinach, broccoli, waterlogged tomatoes, and olives seems to have passed. Veggie pizza is in a Renaissance. It isn't just palatable — it's good! The best, in my opinion, is the Grilled Vegetable at Pizza Place on Broad Street in Westerly. The crust is thin, chewy and rustic. The sauce is a sundried tomato pesto roughly blended so that you can still see whole pine nuts and chunks of sundried tomato. This all sets the stage for a thick layering of mozzarella cheese and liberal portions of breaded eggplant, asparagus, and red and yellow peppers.

It's hard to have just one bite. And it's hard to believe how far veggie-topped pizza has come.

— Alex Nunes

Green Olive + Sausage Pizza

Slice Pizza Bar, 465 Williams St., New London

The sound of flung dirt thwaps against the wooden casket lid. Inside, no longer of this mortal coil, my final thought dwindles to nothingness: "Why did so few New England pizza restaurants embrace the greatness of the green olive?" I will not have died sadly, though. Slice makes tremendous, thin crust pies across the ingrediential slate. (Hey, I'm dead; I can make up a word if I want to.) Slice also delivers, and I regularly order green olive and sweet sausage pies. Plus, if you dine in or pick up, there's a nice bar with a lot of fine beers on tap. They all go well with green olive and sausage pizza.

— Rick Koster

Sal's Pizza & Pasta

29 Spencer Plain Road, Old Saybrook

When an evening calls for very good pizza (as opposed to those nights when a frozen pie will do), I head straight to Sal's, because every ingredient on a Sal's pizza is premium-level delicious: the cheese is dairy-licious; the tomatoes bright and zesty; and the crust is a well-executed example of perfect crisp-to-soft proportions. I tend to throw green peppers on my Sal's pies, and I'm not sure where these flavorful veggies come from, but they are vaguely smoky, crisp and green and just plain delicious. I can also vouch for the eggplant topping — breaded but thinly sliced — and the chicken, which is tender and sliced appropriately for pizza-eating purposes.

I could recommend at least three other dishes from Sal's that aren't pizza, but, honestly, you'll enjoy their pies so much you'll want to keep exploring the pizza menu.

— Marisa Nadolny

Pizza by the Slice

Illiano's Real Italian Pizzaria, 709 Broad St. Ext., Waterford

Nestled in a small, comfy, railroad-car shaped restaurant across from Cedar Grove Cemetery — sit and look out the window at the fantastic foliage during the fall — the Illiano's folks have made this an almost weekly place for lunch. The grinders are particularly excellent, but a can't-lose concept is a by-the-slice pairing: one each of Meat Lover's and Buffalo Chicken. The former is bountifully stuffed with sausage, ground beef and pepperoni — all blended evilly with spicy tomato sauce. Naturally, there's a sneaky, wing-style heat to the latter, and the moist and delicate bird mixes wonderfully with the white cheese construct. Alternate bites for true greatness.

— Rick Koster