Connie’s Pizza is a thin-crust pizza restaurant in Brighton’s North Laine from Naples-born pizzaiolo Andrea Asciuti, who is also behind 081 Pizzeria. It’s the second Connie’s after the original in Peckham, and it occupies the former Gourmet Burger Kitchen site near Komedia.
The style is the selling point. Asciuti takes his cue from New York slices but makes them with Italian technique and British produce, turning out bases that are thin, light and crisp. The room is warm and retro: a vaulted ceiling of terracotta-painted brick, peach tiles and plaster walls, and reed panelling beneath high terrazzo-topped tables lined with teal velvet stools. Black swing-arm lamps reach out over the tables, candles glow on each one, and wood-framed mirrors with pitched tops reflect the bar and its shelves of wine at the back.
The menu is short and keeps prices low, with pizzas starting at £6. Signatures carried over from Peckham include the Vodka Sauce, the Double Pepperoni and Honey, the Nduja e Stracciatella and the Funghi, but the one to order here is the Brighton-only Clam Pie: clams, mozzarella, pecorino, garlic and parsley, made with seafood from a local fisherman’s market. Sides fill out the rest of the order, and dessert is either New York cheesecake or the Fiocco di Neve, a soft mini brioche filled with Nutella or pistachio.
To drink, there are local craft beers from Unbarred Brewery, and the whole operation has the easy, friendly feel of a neighbourhood pizzeria. In good weather, the terrace is the place to be: tables shaded by green-and-yellow parasols and leafy trees, fenced in by dark green planters spilling over with greenery and painted with the Connie’s logo.