The Best Gnocchi in Leslieville, Toronto, and What Makes It Light

Gnocchi is the dish people most often tell us they have given up ordering, usually because the last four plates were heavy. If you have been searching for the best gnocchi near me and keep landing on something dense, the fix is not a secret ingredient. It is potato, timing and a light hand, and we go through all three every morning at 1161 Queen St E.

Why most gnocchi in Toronto comes out heavy

Three things make gnocchi sink. Waterlogged potatoes, too much flour, and too much handling. Boiled potatoes drink water, and every bit of that water has to be balanced out with more flour, which is how a dumpling turns into a doorstop. Then the dough gets kneaded like bread, the gluten tightens, and by the time it hits the pan it has no chance.

So we bake our russets whole on a bed of salt instead of boiling them, split them while they are still too hot to hold comfortably, and rice the flesh straight away so the steam escapes. Dry potato needs far less flour. What follows is egg yolk, a little grated parmesan, salt, and just enough flour to bring it together, folded rather than kneaded, then rolled into ropes and cut. The whole dough is worked for under two minutes.

How we serve it, and what it changes with

Our standing plate is gnocchi in a slow tomato sugo with basil and torn fior di latte, which is the version most people order the first time. Through the winter we run a brown butter and sage plate with toasted hazelnut, and in spring, peas, mint and pecorino. Whatever the sauce, the gnocchi goes into salted water for about ninety seconds, comes out when it floats, and finishes in the pan so it picks up a little colour on one side.

Gnocchi has a short life once it is cut, which is the reason we make it daily in small batches rather than holding trays of it. That is the same rule behind the rest of our house-made pasta in Toronto, and behind the ravioli we fill by hand each morning. If a table asks for both, we are happy to split a portion of each across two plates.

A good plate to share on Queen East

Gnocchi sits well early in a meal, before something heavier. Two people can take a half portion between them with a glass of red and still order properly afterwards, which is how most of our regulars run it. It is also the plate kids finish without negotiation, and one of the few we can make vegetarian without swapping anything out.

We serve gnocchi Tuesday through Sunday and the sauce follows the season, so ask what is on when you sit down. Book a table at Nola Eatery & Bar and we will have a batch waiting.