Cooperstown native Sean Clinton is bringing something new to his hometown.
Clinton, 35, launched Sum Noodle, a Monday night pop-up ramen shop at the Cooperstown Diner, in late July.
Clinton said opening his first solo venture in Cooperstown is a full-circle moment.
“I started back in 2006, when I randomly got a job at the Yum Yum Shack with (chef) Dave Neil, and he kind of took me under his wing and really showed me how to work in a kitchen,” he said. “I fell in love with it. I was hooked, so I kept going back.”
Clinton credited that connection with charting his course.
“I went to college briefly, and I was going to go for business, because part of me, even at 18, was like, ‘I want to open a restaurant,’ but I wanted to figure out the business end,” he said. “I could always fall back on the cooking, because I knew I was meant to do that. From there, I failed out of college … and was kind of lost. That’s where Dave swooped in like a mentor and put me to the test. After a while, he said, ‘How about the (Culinary Institute of America) down in Hyde Park?’”
“I applied and got in right away, and it was just off to the races from there,” Clinton continued. “The CIA changed my life. I studied in Italy and have a lot of Italian background, but where the ramen comes in — I did an internship at Eastern Standard in Boston. I went back for my bachelor’s in hospitality and restaurant management, had my associate’s in culinary, and, from that, I moved to Sycamore in Newton, (Massachusetts), then Little Big Diner, which is their ramen restaurant.”
Though a restaurant fire rerouted him temporarily, Clinton returned to ramen.
“I staged at a bunch of restaurants … but eventually landed in the ramen restaurant, and I didn’t want anything to do with it,” he said. “I’m French-trained, Italian-trained, and I thought it was taboo. But then I fell in love with the Zen mode of service. it’s a lot of prep, but once you get to service, you can just go. And it didn’t really hit me until many years later, during the pandemic, when I thought, ‘I want to do something interesting in Cooperstown, but I don’t know what.’”
It was during a stint in Charleston that Clinton said he “put this brain baby to paper,” though competitors there and a desire to be closer to family brought him back upstate.
“All roads lead to home, and I got to a point in my career, especially after Charleston, where I thought, ‘OK, I did Boston, I did New York, Charleston was my dream location but it got too expensive.’ and being there, I was so far from home. I’ve got young nieces and nephews and I’m missing Christmases and I’m in my mid-30s, so there’s a time when I started to think, ‘I did all the cool, chef-y stuff. I’ve played with tweezers and done ‘The Bear’ stuff.’ I didn’t want to be opening my own restaurant at 40 … and coming back home last year, and being here, kind of opened my eyes.”
“If you told me 10 years ago, I’d be coming home and thinking about settling down here, I would’ve told you, ‘You’re out of your mind,’” Clinton continued. “But this is truly a beautiful place to live, and I’m grateful I grew up here and can call it home.”
Sum Noodle, Clinton said, is the next step not just for him, but Cooperstown’s culinary profile.
“We did our first week (in late July) and it was nice,” he said. “When I walked in, I had a full team, great front-of-house guys I’ve known since I was 16, and everybody in the Sum Noodle family is very tight-knit. I want to build a family … and the diner is fun.
“I can’t wait to get it into a brick-and-mortar, but we approached the diner to lease … and they were like, ‘Why don’t you cook noodles at night, and in the winter when we close?’ so that’s been great,” Clinton continued. “And the market has been tested. everybody wants this. I’ve sold out every time. It’s all Italian (in Cooperstown), and there’s nowhere for anybody to eat on Mondays. I want to tap into Monday, and this is new and fun and people are loving it. The majority of them are like, ‘What is this?’ and they only know packet Ramen.”
Clinton said, given his ties to the area and what he’s offering, Sum Noodle’s clientele has “definitely been a broad spectrum.”
“It’s all locals, and I would like to feel like I have a great following from being with Dave Neil for so many years, and my friends and their parents, and Cooperstown is small,” he said. “There are a few foodies that I’ve run into that love good, authentic ramen, and this town is cultured. don’t let the cover of the book fool you. Norbu is a prime example. The more I talk about food with people … they’re like, ‘Our options are so limited.’”
Clinton said he hopes to keep enhancing local food offerings.
“I have three business plans — the noodle place, which is my baby and the easiest to start — but I also want to start a catering option, because it’s very limited right now,” he said. “I’ve always said this town needs something grab-and-go … so I want to tap into that market, and I have aways been really into making homemade ice cream and I don’t know of a place that’s done house-spun, fun flavors. I’m kind of developing that brand right now, Scooperstown Creamery.”
Sum Noodle popups take place from 5 to 10 p.m. Mondays at the Cooperstown Diner at 136 Main St.
For more information, follow @Sumnoodlecoop on Instagram. A portion of this week’s sales, Clinton said, will benefit Milford fire relief efforts. Additionally, Sum Noodle will be vending at the Cannabis Culture Film Fest on Sept. 5 at Foothills in Oneonta.