RESTAURANT REVIEW : They’re Using Their Noodles : There’s not a disappointing dish on the menu at Jitlada West, whose namesake is revered by natives of Bangkok.

The best noodles I ever tasted were cooked over an open flame on a Thai beach. I can still smell them frying--dry, flat, spicy noodles flecked with fire-alarm chili, Andaman Sea crab meat pulled straight from the shell and bits of intensely yellow egg yolk.

You won’t find these noodles in the States, and you probably won’t find them in Thailand, either. The dish was just, I suppose, the culmination of elements such as perfect weather, perfect ingredients and a perfect appetite. The very idea of looking for them seems unromantic.

But spicy noodles, No. 62 on the menu at Studio City’s Jitlada West, is easily the best noodle dish I’ve had around here for quite some time, and if one were to factor in a full moon, a tropical breeze and a little Andaman Sea crab, the sky would be the limit. The menu description tells you that the dish is composed of pan-fried flat wide noodles with chili, mint leaves and your choice of chicken, beef or pork. For a dollar more, you get shrimp.

These are towering noodles: fiery and sweet, soft and al dente , each strand of dough attractively browned and redolent of exotic spices.

Another noodle dish, pad Thai, also demonstrates consummate skill. Almost every one of our Thai restaurants makes a version of pad Thai, but few make the dish soar. Credit the chef here, even if many of the recipes come from the original Jitlada in Hollywood.

Of course, we expect a lot from any restaurant that calls itself Jitlada. Many people, including many visitors from Bangkok, consider the original Jitlada the best Thai restaurant in Los Angeles. But Jitlada West is no Jitlada. It’s a modest, unassuming little place with pink walls, track lighting and almost no decor to speak of, save glass-topped tables and a few nondescript posters.

An appetizer they call shrimp roll is unusual, and quite delicious. I’d describe it as a deep-fried salami of shrimp meat and minced pork, with a bean curd skin to hold it all together. It’s sliced into rounds and served with a sticky, rose-colored sauce mixed with crushed peanut.

I like to start a Thai meal with larb, an appetizer from Isaan, the Thai northeast. Larb (pronounced approximately “lob”) consists of ground meat mixed with mint leaves, lime juice, onion, ground chili and rice powder. Thais eat it rolled up inside cabbage leaves. The menu here says it is made with beef, but the waitresses will recommend that you have chicken, and I second the motion. Chicken is just delicate enough to absorb all the intermingling tastes, but flavorful enough to stand up to them.

A soup such as tom ka kai would make a richer, more soothing introduction to a Thai dinner. This is a mild coconut-chicken soup, despite the inclusion of lemon grass, ginger (and its cousin galangal ) and red chilis, which rise benignly to the surface of the kettle. It’s a creamy broth further enriched by an overzealous amount of chicken. One bowlful could fill you up.

I haven’t had a single bad dish here, and most of them are terrific. Thai sausage salad looks prosaic, on its bed of iceberg lettuce and sliced tomato, but isn’t. The ruddy, oily sausage has a mysteriously seductive flavor, and an oddball lime dressing works wonders with the vegetables. Bangkok duck looks suspiciously Chinese, pieces of roast duck sauteed with celery, ginger and onions . . . but a sweet, dark soy gravy adds an exotic twist.

Thais are big on seafoods, too. Hoy mang poo are steamed mussels in a spicy lemon sauce, and grilled live prawns (when available) get royal treatment in a mild curry sauce. Squid Pattaya style is just about the most tender squid anywhere, in a powerful red spice paste that will make your senses reel.

The menu also says there is chocolate cake and espresso ice cream for dessert--more confusion. They didn’t have them when I dined here, but they did have a superb homemade coconut ice cream, a grainy confection topped with red and yellow beans and strands of young coconut.

WHERE AND WHEN

Location: Jitlada West, 11622 Ventura Blvd., Studio City.

Suggested dishes: coconut chicken soup; $5.95; larb , $4.95; Bangkok duck; $7.95; hoy mang poo , $10.95; spicy noodles, $4.95.

Hours: Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 12:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 12:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Price: Dinner for two, $20-$35. Beer and wine only. Street parking. American Express, MasterCard and Visa accepted.

Call: (818) 506-9355.