RESTAURANT REVIEW : Using Their Noodles : * The Pasta Shoppe in Montrose serves up tasty Italian dishes at bargain prices.

There’s an endearing quality about the Pasta Shoppe’s new branch in this quiet, hillside community. It’s a quirky little joint; di rectly over the pasta counter hovers an enormous pastel yellow duct that could be mistaken for a bionic-sized piece of lemon rigatoni. The Shoppe offers a friendly welcome and not a whit of pretense.

For those unfamiliar with the original Pasta Shoppe in Los Feliz, here’s the concept. Freshly made pasta (you see sheets of the stuff on trays as you walk in the front door) is sold in assorted varieties at about $4.25 a pound. It comes in a dozen flavors, such as plain, rosemary, spinach and sage, and in the shapes you know-- pappardelle , tagliatelle , fusilli and other marchers in the parade of Italian tongue twisters. You want sauces? The Pasta Shoppe sells them, too.

You can take everything home and cook it yourself, but I prefer to drive up the hill and let the kitchen do the work. Let me assure you, at around $5 a dish, it’s a bargain.

Don’t look for royal comforts at these prices, of course. The half-dozen tables are fashioned from cold stainless steel, and the chairs have hard wicker seats. The floor is hardwood, and the yellow walls are adorned only with a few large, rough-looking paintings of pastas. New Age rock is apt to be playing in the background, because the entire kitchen staff appears to be twenty-something.

I’m not the one to ask about pasta salads (I like my pasta hot, with no vinegar, thanks), although I’m told that the best one here is made with radiatore , sun-dried tomatoes, chopped basil leaves and Kalamata olives. I’m telling everybody to start, instead, with one of the terrific empanadas or a slice of the cafe’s hearty torta rustica.

The empanadas are an unexpected Latin American touch--flaky turnovers that come with a variety of fillings. The veal empanada is great, although perhaps a touch salty. The interior is a mixture of finely minced veal and olives; the outside is braided like Pippi Longstocking’s hair. As for torta rustica , it’s something like a thick savory pie with layers of fillings. My friends and I ate a slice that contained minced chicken, mozzarella mingled with cooked spinach and chopped tomatoes, all in a doughy crust you could pull apart like a sticky bun.

The pasta doughs are good, although none of them quite jumps out at you, flavor-wise. The kitchen will cook them al dente , of course. (Incidentally, if you order a pasta, you’ll get a bonus: a basket of terrific focaccia bread topped with grilled onions.)

You’re pretty much on your own in choosing among the 600-odd possible combinations of sauces and pasta flavors and shapes. The menu makes a scant six suggestions, such as garlic pappardelle with meat sauce, lemon fettuccine with cream of sage sauce and chicken ravioli. Every one we tasted was pleasant.

Pappardelle are wide, flat noodles, and the recommended meat sauce is a delicate veal ragu that I’d say rivals that of most accomplished pasterias. On the other hand, lemon fettuccine with the suggested sage sauce would be a disappointment if you were expecting to taste either lemon or sage distinctly, although it is a good, creamy little pasta dish. My money’s on the chicken ravioli, which have a pleasant (unannounced) bit of cheese in the dough. I recommend ordering the grainy pesto sauce to go with it.

For a small place, the Pasta Shoppe has a surprisingly large menu, even outside all the pasta combinations. There’s always a good house soup such as minestrone or lentil on hand, and there are grilled sandwiches such as alla Lombarda , crackling bread filled with marinated peppers, grilled onions and melted mozzarella.

WHERE AND WHEN

Location: The Pasta Shoppe, 3820 Ocean View Blvd., Montrose.

Suggested Dishes: empanadas , $1.50; torta rustica , $4.50; chicken ravioli with pesto, $5.50; alla Lombarda , $4.50; fruit tart, $3.50.

Hours: Lunch and dinner 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturdays.

Price: Lunch for two, $12 to $16. No alcohol. Self-parking in street. Cash only.

Call: (818) 541-9091.