Noodles

Lucky Choi is another new restaurant at an old Chinatown spot, and while the decor certainly won't win any awards, the food has something going for it. The present owners have revamped the place somewhat, doing away with the booths that once lined the northern wall. (Now if they could do something about the carpeting. . . . ) Most of the dining-room tables are round, large, and equipped with Lazy- Susan centers for family-style dining. Lucky Choi offers chow mein, chop suey and lo mein dishes, but seems to be patterning itself after a Washington restaurant that's known for its noodle dishes and dim sum. This brings it some innovative tastes with nuances of Cambodian and Taiwanese cooking.

To find a location that provides breakfast, pasta and ice cream under one roof, you'd normally have to go to a shopping mall. At Noodles in Chestnut Hill, they're all in one restaurant. Housed in the defunct Primarily Pasta store, Noodles is the latest effort in the burgeoning food empire of Paul Roller. This bright and casual (two Roller trademarks) place is small and it's already a hit with the locals so there's a wait during peak times. But everything is available for takeout if you're in a hurry.

This is one of those stories that came about by happenstance - the result of being served a cabbage salad not long ago that contained interesting crunch. Surprisingly, the crunch was from those instant, uncooked noodles that come in packages of Oriental noodle soup mix. If you've cruised the supermarket aisles, you know the mixes: the ones that often offered four or five packages for a dollar, that you keep squirreled away on the pantry shelf because they make quick, easy lunches or snacks.

Once upon a time, some funny-looking little Japanese cars started appearing around the country. They were cheap and quickly became best-sellers. And U.S. automakers laughed, until they cried. A few years back, a Japanese dry soup with funny-looking noodles started appearing on supermarket shelves, right next to the All-American, red-and- white-labeled Campbell's condensed and Chunky soups. But Campbell Soup is determined not to suffer the fate of American automakers by allowing the Japanese to grab a significant chunk of its business.

The Glorious Noodle (Poseidon Press, $16.95) is a worldwide tour of noodle eating, as enjoyed from California to the Orient. It is also a trip back in time with some historical foods enjoyed by such ancients as the Etruscans. Author Linda Merinoff, a journalist, caterer and candy-maker, has included some informative history and interesting lore that shows the noodle's role as a staple of mankind. Her book has more than 200 recipes, as commonplace as cold noodles in a sesame sauce and as offbeat as a dessert made with chocolate noodles.

Anybody who frequents the supermarket knows that even imported pasta costs only about 80 cents a pound, and that explains how Noodles in Chestnut Hill keeps its prices so reasonable. And the restaurant even makes its own. If you can deal with the often ditsy help, tiny tables and spine-stiffening chairs, you will enjoy great food made from fresh ingredients and herbs. Your kids will love it even more: spaghetti and an ice cream counter - who could ask for anything more? Noodles, part of the Paul Roller triumvirate that includes Flying Fish and Roller's, is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner six days a week.

"Noodles" - that infamous, treacherous, slippery, dangerous, exciting, awful bump that sent four women careering to the hospital this week - is still part of the women's downhill ski course. But thanks to Thursday's heavy snowfall and some modern technology, the skiers have learned to master it. At least that's what they were saying yesterday. Thirty-seven downhill racers cruised down Roc de Fer, the mile-and-two- thirds course here, and all 37 made it down without incident.

Pity the poor copywriter who was assigned to come up with a catchy, all- purpose description for Juzo Itami's Tampopo and settled in defeat for "the first Japanese noodle western. " It may herald a new movie genre, but it hardly does justice to a delightful, haphazard comedy that is so Eastern in its viewpoint. Then again, what do you say about a movie that argues persuasively that there is no distinction between food and sex - except to claim that there are far more sensory thrills to be derived from the former - and uses the symphonies of Gustav Mahler to accompany the pursuit of the perfect noodle?

When people familiar with Chinese food hear the word Szechuan, they instinctively think hot-and-spicy. They might envision a good selection of stir-fries at the mention of Cantonese foods, or sweet-and-sour specialties if someone says Hunan. But what would they expect of a restaurant called the Taiwan Noodle House? Well, noodles of course. But how would the noodles be prepared? And what would set Taiwanese cooking apart from the cuisines of the various Chinese provinces? "First of all," says Ma-Ni Kam, "Taiwanese food is made for Taiwanese tastes.

What chef Kin Jing Mark can do with a ball of dough the size of a softball looks very much like magic. He rolls it out on a floured table until it forms a long rope, then tosses it in the air again and again. The result is not a pizza. Within two minutes, the rope has separated into more than 2,000 noodles, each with the fineness of a human hair. "Just by hand. No knife, nothing," said the Hong Kong native, one of only a few chefs in the U.S. to have mastered this singular skill.

In Southeast Asia, where her mother's side of the family ran a cooking school, Grace O cooked and baked professionally. Now in California, O, the daughter of a physician, operates skilled nursing facilities and continues her culinary passions. Small wonder her new cookbook focuses on food's naturally occurring nutrients. Not all her recipes are weeknight-worthy as far as timing is concerned. But this one, which relies on the strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of green tea, is a quickie.

The LOVE Statue is getting upstaged by what Kraft calls 'The Big Noodle. " Not only is the giant elbow mac brighter (yellow as a rubber ducky), bigger (20 feet long, 10 feet high), wordier ("You Know You Love It" stretches across its grin), and closer to the corner of 15th and JFK Boulevard, the cheesy-whatsit even has events. Like photo ops and giveaways. It is, after all, a promotion for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. The food behemoth forked over $24,500 to keep its one-ton noodle there into early January, certain to be seen by thousands of passersby and visitors to the shops of the Christmas Village, which opened in the park right after Thanksgiving.

Chinatown's Michael Chow and his Sang Kee noodle machine is in rapid suburban expansion mod, branching out simultaneously into Cherry Hill (where he's co-owner) and Newtown Square where he's just consulting). Crafted in the modern spirit of his successful Wynnewood locale, the Cherry Hill space is a sleek but tiny 45-seat BYO with no reservations. But a recent weekend meal showed why there are steady lines already. South Jersey has few Chinese kitchens that can match Sang Kee for its fresh, affordable, authentic Hong Kong flavors.

Love Park seems to have a new "love" sculpture. It's giant yellow noodle, freshly set up today near 15th and JFK. The latest brainstorm of Claes Oldenburg? After all, the sculptor created Philly's Clothespin and the new boldly colored Paint Torch, as well as, in other cities, oversize rubber-eraser wheels, shuttlecocks and safety pins. Nah, this proves to be much cheesier, starting with its presumptuous message: "You know you love it. " Symmetrically curving up at each end, the piece is remindful of an eyeless smiley face - or Alice's enigmatic Cheshire cat. Love what?

Man Lam, a veteran of Chinatown's Ting Wong , and wife Shu Jie Lin are first-time owners with M Kee (1002 Race St., 215-238-8883), in a former produce store. They specialize in noodle dishes, pork, and duck - they hang in the window here - in a utilitarian atmosphere that's reminiscent of the original Sang Kee around the corner. Most dishes are under $7 and it's open from morning into the late evening. What's new The brick-oven-pizza and craft-beer spot Birra is open at 1700 E. Passyunk Ave. (267-324-3127)

You say tomato , they say pomodoro . And when they say it, they mean it. That's because the Italians are champions of simple, classically delicious ways of using fresh tomatoes. And they should be; they've been cultivating them for hundreds of years. One of the many basic ways they use garden-fresh tomatoes is in a pomodoro sauce, made with basil and garlic and tossed with pasta. This dish, just noodles and tomatoes, embodies the core philosophy of Italian food - letting a few perfectly ripe ingredients shine.

I like to know where my recipes come from and when they have entered my life. According to a note scrawled on the back of a spattered index card, my recipe for cold sesame noodles came from two sources: the February 1993 issue of Gourmet and Mollie Katzen's book The Enchanted Broccoli Forest (Ten Speed Press, 1995), which I've owned forever. In February 1993, I had been married all of three months. Perhaps my new husband and I had enjoyed a bowl of sesame noodles on our honeymoon in Hawaii - I have no recollection.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A 5-year-old Connecticut girl was hospitalized after she accidentally ingested the hallucinogenic drug PCP, New Haven police said yesterday. The child ate noodles prepared by a relative Monday in the same pot that her mother, Hope Brodie, 26, used the day before to mix the the illegal drug with marijuana, police said. Brodie has been charged with risk of injury to a minor. The New Haven Register reported that after she ate the noodles, the child became hyperactive and distracted and began pointing to her face, saying that she had four noses.

Parx just got bigger - again. It debuted additional table games and a new noodle bar Wednesday at its adjacent Parx East property. The new games include pai gow, pai gow tiles, Sic Bo, and mini- and midi-baccarat - all popular among Asians. About 400 new employees, mostly dealers, were hired for the $15 million addition, part of a multiphase expansion planned by the casino over the next couple of years. Though a significant number of the new games cater to Asians, the ground floor is not purely an Asian gaming pit, like those found in Las Vegas.

This is a tale of three young sisters, a homemade cartoon character nicknamed Little Man, and a flock of plastic pink flamingos. You might call it a children's story: Anna, 11, Grace, 9, and Abigail Buss, 4, with storybook looks and personalities to match, are helping feed hungry men, women, and children. The girls' "Live Civilly" campaign - symbolized by the Little Man icon - also helps connect Camden with Moorestown and beyond. It puts faith into action, and "it makes us feel good," Anna says as she, her sisters, and their parents, Joe and Kahra, make a delivery to Camden's Bridge of Peace.