When you visit an Italian eatery, you can expect to see a few different gnocchi dishes on the menu. If you're relatively unacquainted with Italian cuisine, gnocchi is a simple type of dumpling that features wheat and potato. Commonly made in-house for maximum freshness, gnocchi has a mild taste that many people enjoy. There are several different ways that you can order this fare, and trying a few different preparations over the course of a handful of restaurant visits may help you to find a new favorite meal. Here are three popular gnocchi dishes that you may wish to try.

Browned Butter

If you want a very simple way to enjoy gnocchi, look for a dish that features these dumplings tossed in browned butter. Browned butter is butter that is warmed in a frying pan until it darkens in color. During this process, new flavors emerge. Often, you'll notice nutty flavor notes, which many people enjoy. Gnocchi in browned butter is a rich dish that allows the subtle flavors of the gnocchi to come through. You'll often see this dish as an appetizer, but it can also be available as a main course.

Tomato Sauce

Italian restaurants often feature a long list of meals in which tomato sauce is one of the star ingredients, and you'll usually find gnocchi with tomato sauce on the menu. This variation of the dish offers more flavor than the browned butter preparation, which may be appealing to those who cannot resist homemade tomato sauce. Depending on the restaurant you visit, the sauce could be on the simpler side, or it could contain ingredients such as mushrooms, peppers, and more. It's common to find fresh basil on top of this dish to enhance its flavor.

Cheese

There are lots of gnocchi dishes in which cheese is a prominent ingredient. While you can always add parmesan or another cheese to any gnocchi dish you eat, you may wish to consider some cheese-focused options if you're a cheese lover. For example, your local Italian restaurant may have a baked gnocchi dish, featuring a bed of gnocchi that is covered in cheese and then placed in the oven until the cheese melts into a gooey consistency. This is a rich dish that many children will love, but it can also be popular with adults.

Look for these and other authentic Italian food dishes during your next visit to a local Italian restaurant.