When Shin Orio came to Los Angeles...

When Shin Orio came to Los Angeles from Tokyo 19 years ago, he was surprised that, although there were plenty of Japanese restaurants in town, none of them served spaghetti--a wildly popular dish in his home country.

So in 1984, after making a good living in real estate here, Orio opened the Spoon House, a Japanese restaurant in Gardena that serves almost nothing but spaghetti.

There are 26 different spaghetti dishes plus four daily spaghetti specials. The most popular dishes are those with traditional pasta toppings. The classic Spaghetti Bolognese with the famous northern Italian sauce is a big favorite. The red sauce is loaded with either sausages or meatballs. Served with the restaurant’s fresh crusty French bread, this makes for a very satisfying $5.75 dinner.

Another popular item is the spaghetti topped with a fresh clam sauce laden with shiitake and shimeji mushrooms. At $7, this is the most expensive spaghetti dish on the menu. It’s also probably the best value, considering the price of Japanese mushrooms. Most anywhere else in Los Angeles, this dish would bring twice the price.

This is not your typical Italian pasta palace. Several of the dishes would be as likely to turn up at a trattoria in Genoa as sushi in Baghdad. Consider the spaghetti topped with plums and Japanese herbs ($5.25). More exotic yet would be the pasta topped with sea urchins, squid and seaweed ($6.75). Even Marco Polo wouldn’t recognize that one. Another popular dish features spaghetti with tuna, radishes and lemon soy sauce ($6.25).

The Spoon House is a small, modern restaurant of glass and wood design with clean lines and walls tastefully decorated with contemporary prints. Of the 33 seats, 19 are at two counters, with the remainder at tables. The main counter, 12 seats long, curves along the open kitchen where diners can watch the cooks applying myriad toppings to the pasta.

Although almost every item on the menu is a spaghetti dish, there are a few other options: a special steak dinner for $15.25; zosui , a seafood porridge for $6.25, and an Aegean Sea salad of vegetables and seafood, also for $6.25.

Of course, the specialty of the house is spaghetti. And with pasta never more popular, Shin Orio will tell you that his business has been very good.

Spoon House, 1111 Redondo Beach Blvd. (between Western and Normandie avenues), Gardena. Open every day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. (310) 538-0376. Beer and wine are served.