Connie's Italian Diner breaks free of Heartbreaker, goes big on family fun

Connie's Italian Diner is ready for red sauce-stained nights backed by soul records and Americano cocktails, after a difficult summer of delays. Opening on April 21, the spin-off of Heartbreaker bar's pizza window will join the Made in the Shade family, led by Michael and Zara Madrusan, adding another restaurant to their drinks-focused stable.

Departing slightly from the original plan reported by Good Food in November, Connie's has morphed from casual pizza and pasta restaurant above Heartbreaker into a venue geared to the any-occasion dining Melburnians love.

The change is partly driven by chef Matteo D'Elia's credentials, including Michelin-starred London restaurants Galvin at Windows and Bibendum. He's folded more traditional family recipes into the menu's nostalgia for Italian restaurants in New York and Australia.

"The focus is still on feeling," says Michael. "But now the food has really ramped up to match the vibe."

The Bad Nonna lasagne, for example, is based on a recipe from Michael's paternal grandmother, who ran Italian restaurants in Newcastle. The anchovy zeppole are a contribution of Adrian Corigliano, chef at sister venue Bar Margaux, whose mum often makes the fried rounds of dough.

D'Elia, meanwhile, has added vitello tonnato, lamb rack 'scottadito' with peperonata, and cacio e pepe to the 26-dish menu.

The three pizzas are all deep-dish squares, baked on a conveyor belt oven that was previously used in a Pizza Hut. A Tirami-sundae sees the popular dessert reimagined, with tongue firmly in cheek.

Mirror balls are strung throughout the 100-seat venue (even in the bathrooms), which screams fun thanks to a fish tank, retro film posters and a jukebox loaded with 80 albums of Motown and soul. A rooftop terrace boasts a grill, festoon lighting and marble-topped tables.

Cocktails are grouped into highballs, sparkling (available in pitchers, too) and classics, which come in 500ml bottles for the whole table. The house spritz, Il Carretto, mixes amari Cynar and Aperol with pecorino white wine and soda. Wines are all Italian, with a reserve list of barolos and other cellared bottles.

"You bring your real friends to Connie's on a Friday night," says Zara. "The people you can let loose around, share a big bowl of spaghetti with, those who will wipe the sauce off your chin and won't laugh at your dance moves after dinner."

But, she adds, families can come early for pasta alla norma in one of the booths, and the kids will get butchers paper and crayons.

Open from April 21, Wed-Sat 5pm-late

Upstairs, 234B Russell Street, Melbourne, 03 8413 2970, connies.melbourne