Happy Noodle opens in Mount Sinai

There is so much going on in a bowl of ramen — the broth, the meat, the dried seaweed, the bamboo shoots, the scallions — that sometimes you don’t focus on the actual noodles that lend their name to the dish. Misaki Sugimoto is on a mission to change that.

In November, she opened Happy Noodle, a tiny factory in a Mount Sinai strip mall. Most of her clients are local restaurants, but retail customers are also welcome: You can buy noodles ($12 for two single-serve bunches) or a ramen kit containing two servings of noodles and broth concentrate ($18 for plain, $20 for spinach- or tomato-flavored noodles).

Born in Japan, Sugimoto worked as a food journalist and a teacher of kazari (“decorative”) sushi before her husband took a job at Stony Brook University and they moved to Long Island. She enrolled at Suffolk Community College, first to study English and then to study pastry and baking at the Riverhead campus’ Culinary Arts program. For her academic externship she worked at Slurp, the authentic ramen shop in Port Jefferson, and was dismayed to find that even though the kitchen used the best commercial noodles available, “they were not consistent.”

After graduation, Sugimoto briefly considered opening a bakery but she knew that her own palate favored less-sweet confections. And so she decided to use her pastry-making skills to craft a better ramen noodle.

Sugimoto purchased a machine to mix, roll and cut the noodles (it’s the same one used at Ippudo, the seminal Manhattan ramen shop), then she rented a storefront that had been the short-lived Joylato dessert bar, and set about sourcing ingredients. Ramen noodles are made from high-gluten flour, salt, water and kansui, an alkaline solution that bestows elasticity and sleekness. They are kneaded and then repeatedly rolled out to develop the gluten structure that will keep them firm no matter how long they soak in broth. Sugimoto uses no preservatives and makes noodles every weekday. Size, shape and color of her noodles can be customized to a chef’s specifications.

Sugimoto plans to add soba, udon and other varieties to the lineup. Her ultimate goal is to spread happiness through noodles.

“I want my clients to be happy, my employees to be happy and the diner to be happy when they eat the noodles,” she said.

Happy Noodle, 29 Route 25A, Mount Sinai, 631-223-9577, happy-noodle.com. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday.