Connie's spins New York-style pizza at Heartbreaker

Heartbreaker, Russell Street's jukebox-jumping, red-light dive bar with pure ice and terrible toilets, is now dealing in New York-style pizza, from Connie's, in a corner of the bar.

Given this is the fastidious Everleigh cocktail bar team, colour us unsurprised that it's quite the pie, ordered at the bar, grabbed from the window marked by a neon-blue sign to eat in, or grab to-go. Maybe with one of their bottled negronis.

If you have ever lived in America, there is a strong chance a slice has saved your life. Catching the Q train to deepest Brooklyn for a pie at 53-year-old Di Fara is one of the great food pilgrimages of a lifetime.

Here at Connie's, the cheese and pepperoni numbers are in New York's "dollar slice" style (although a slice here is actually $5). Descended from the Neapolitan pizza, this is supersized, universally coated with a firmer, drier mozzarella and often cooked in an electric oven for a more uniformly firm-yet-flexi base.

There is less soupiness than you'll find in most Neapolitan-style pizzas. Instead, the cheesy surface glistens so you dab with your napkin like a southern dame mopping her brow.

Cover with the provided dried parmesan, chilli flakes and oregano (optional), grab a beer, and embrace the particular toasty crunch and boost of salt.

And if you prefer a thicker base, there are the deep-pan, fat, crunchy Sicilian slabs, better resembling focaccia, layered with molten cheese and finishing with san marzano tomato.

Open Thu 5pm-3am, Fri-Sat noon-3am, Sun noon-1am.

234a Russell Street, Melbourne, 03 9663 2112, heartbreakerbar.com.au