Noodles are a symbol of longevity and good fortune. In China, where they were making noodles as early as 3000 B.C., noodles are a mainstay of the New Year celebration. Here in the states, December 11 is National Noodle Ring Day, another good reason to embrace some pasta during the holiday season.

It’s easy to forget how diverse and plentiful the dining options are just outside of the beach cities. While there are plenty of places to get a plate of pasta without crossing PCH, if you’re willing to drive a few miles east, you can have far more unique experiences.

A quest eastward for noodles can lead you to the authentic homemade specialities at Eatalian Cafe in Gardena, the masterful noodle soups at Santouka Ramen in Torrance or the unexpected Japanese-Italian fusion spaghettis at Spoon Kitchen in Gardena. The ocean will still be here when you get home.

Eatalian

Antonio Pellini, a native of the Bologna area of Italy, started Eatalian in 2008 in a warehouse on Broadway Street. The idea is this: house-made Italian food from scratch created with imported Italian ingredients and authentic Italian machinery. Now Pellini has expanded his business to Culver City, with EnjoEAT Espresso and EnjoEAT Classico. But home base is still 15500 South Broadway where you can watch all of the magic happen.

On the menu, there is arguably the best pizza in the South Bay, Los Angeles or maybe the entire universe, depending whom you ask or what you like. The pastas are masterfully created, too. Eatalian offers pasta asciutta (dried pasta) and paste della casa (pasta from the house). As the menu and business has grown, so have the options. Luckily, it is hard to go wrong with anything you choose and there is always someone in the cafe to answer your questions.

A recent standout is the penne peperoni e salsiccia. This one is made with a dried pasta and it’s tossed with beautiful chunks of tomatoes, bell peppers and homemade pork sausage brimming with spicy red pepper and fennel. It’s utterly perfect for a warm-weather Italian lunch.

Eatalian Cafe, 15500 S Broadway, Gardena.

Santouka Ramen

Mitsuwa Marketplace is a bit intimidating for a non-Japanese speaking person like myself. Unless you’re going with a confident friend, expect to be a bit confused and a touch overwhelmed. There is a lot going on: a food court, an Asian (though it seems largely Japanese) marketplace and lots of hubbub. But if you take your time and wander around, you can have a really nice experience. One of the spots in the food court is Santouka Ramen. Though its sign is only in Japanese, you can order easily if you pay attention to the menu and ask a few, polite questions. It’s cash only but there is an ATM within the marketplace so no need to panic.

Ramen is essentially a noodle soup and we’ve probably all tried it, whether it was packaged and cost a quarter at a grocery store or it was served at a stand-out spot. Santouka’s ramen is the latter.

My two favorite ramen soups at Santouka, so far, are the spicy miso ramen and the salt pork ramen, or “shio.” There are more accurate ways to say these dishes but, unless you speak or write Japanese or know a lot about the complicated history of Asian cuisine, I think it’s okay to not try. And friendly pointing at menu items and patience is rewarded.

Both soups are made with wheat noodles, pork topped with scallions, wood-ear mushrooms, bean sprouts, sesame seeds and the traditional narutomaki, a type of kamaboko, or cured fish surimi produced in Japan. Each slice of naruto has a pink or red spiral pattern, meant to resemble the Naruto whirlpools between Awaji Island and Shikoku in Japan. Both ramen soups boast a salty, savory broth with perfectly gummy noodles, tender pork and a touch of heat. It should be mentioned that ramen is thought of as a reliable hangover cures, a fact to keep in your quiver during the holiday season. And don’t be afraid to slurp. In Japanese culture it’s considered good manners to slurp your ramen to show your enjoyment of the dish.

Santouka Ramen in Mitsuwa Marketplace, 21515 S Western Avenue, Torrance.

Spoon House

While Italian pastas and Japanese ramen are easy to come by in the South Bay, Spoon House in Gardena has carved out an unusual spot in the dining market. They specialize in Japanese-style spaghetti dishes, a take on Yoshoku, Western food with a Japanese twist. The menu is divided in two parts: cold pastas and hot pastas, with both olive-oil and soy based noodles offered. The olive-oil spaghettis are used in more Italian-inspired dishes like the spaghetti with bolognese or pesto while the soy noodles are used in the more unusual plates, like cold tuna spaghetti and the seared tuna and daikon noodles.

Spoon House is small and unassuming, with about 30 seats and an open kitchen. Currently, the store’s facade is under construction, making the restaurant even harder to find. But it is worth the effort. Orio Sheto opened his restaurant in 1984. It stays busy during weekday lunches with locals flocking in for a quick meal on work breaks. Dinner on weekend nights gets busy with folks coming from the beach cities and even L.A. proper for a taste of the unique noodle offerings.

The standout at Spoon House is number 18 –soy noodles with tuna, daikon and lemon soy sauce. Hot noodles are topped with nametake mushrooms, seared tuna, daikon radish, black sesame seeds and dried seaweed. The dish is finished with a lemon soy sauce, a shishito pepper and a generous heap of bonito flakes (dehydrated, aged fish) that dance on top of the spaghetti as they curl from its heat. Friendly servers like Naoko are happy to advise you on their favorite dishes. She earned my trust by guiding me to number 18.

Spoon House, 1601 W. Redondo Beach Blvd., Gardena.