I think someone else mentioned somewhere else that 面 by itself can have several meanings, one is flour. 面条 Is explicitly noodles, however on a menu 条 can be omitted in dish names like 牛肉面 because its taken for granted they're not going to serve you beef and flour.

面 is for "flour". Though 面条 literaly means "flour stripes"

Many phrases in 中文 are composed of 2 characters that essentially mean the same thing. Sometimes it has to do with the cadence (as i understand it)

It's a more explicit way of saying noodles, as 面 by itself has several other meanings too.

It's kind of as if it were "pasta" or "pasta strings".