CLASS OF 2026 · PART 1 OF 4

Opening a business is an act of nerve. Opening one in January on Long Island, when the wind comes off the bay and nobody wants to leave the house, takes a little more.

This is Part 1 of the Babylon Local Business Class of 2026, our four-week salute to the small businesses that opened their doors in the Town of Babylon this year. We are running it during Small Business Season™, the weeks leading up to Small Business Saturday® on Nov. 28, because that is when a first holiday season can make or break a new shop. Each week covers one stretch of the calendar. This week is January through March.

The profiles are for locally owned, independent businesses. National chains and franchises that opened in the same months are listed at the bottom.

KRAZY RAMEN · WEST BABYLON

1047 Montauk Highway, South Bay Commons. Opened January.

Krazy Ramen started with a soft opening on Friday, Jan. 9, and $5 bowls for dine-in guests that weekend. By Sunday, Greater Long Island reported, the shop in the old Blaze Pizza space was packed. Co-owners Yan Guo and Leo Ling already had a ramen and pho restaurant, Meet Noodle, in Stony Brook. They came to the South Shore because, as Guo told GLI, “My business partner wanted to open a location closer to where he lives in Babylon.”

The look is Guo’s own childhood. A floor-to-ceiling mural near the door puts Goku, Vegeta and Gohan from Dragon Ball Z beside characters from Naruto and One Piece, with life-size statues around the room. “I’ve been a fan since I was a young boy,” he told GLI. Try first: the bowls the opening crowd lined up for, the Classic Tonkotsu, the Miso and the Kara-Age Shoyu. If you are not in a soup mood, build a “Poke Your Way” bowl. The shop’s website lists hours of 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, and pickup orders at (631) 482-8600.

COURTSIDE SPORT + SOCIAL · BABYLON VILLAGE

96 E. Main Street. Opened January.

Courtside took the long road to its opening night. Frankie Bragaglia and his team at Standard Provisions Restaurant Group, which also runs The Brixton in Babylon, Standard Rec in Patchogue and the Moonrise Motel in Kismet, signed for the former Pekin Long Island space in October 2024. They gutted the 3,000-square-foot storefront and planned an oyster bar, a pool table, darts and a pickleball court out back. “Pickleball is exploding and Babylon Village was so welcoming to it,” Bragaglia told Greater Long Island in April 2025, during construction.

The court needed a special-use permit from the Village Board, and the doors finally opened in January 2026, according to an August roundup of Main Street openings. Try first: the menu’s “Adult Happy Meal,” nuggets, a hot dog or a cheeseburger with your pick of a dirty martini, old fashioned, Moscow mule, Negroni or Manhattan. Or split the focaccia pizza with cup-and-char pepperoni and hot honey. The restaurant’s website lists opening times of 3 p.m. Monday to Thursday, noon on Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. on Sunday. Reservations: (631) 314-4360.

BUTTERFLY BOUQUETS · COPIAGUE / AMITY HARBOR

78 Montauk Highway. Grand opening in February.

Heather Garguilo is a 27-year-old Copiague native and a hairdresser by trade, and she calls herself a “full-blown florist and one-woman show.” The shop began with weekend trips to farmers markets with her mom. “I felt like I wasn’t hanging out with my mom very much,” she told Greater Long Island. Those trips turned into a build-your-own bouquet bar, then a lease in October 2025 on a vacant former law office, then months of renovation.

Try first: the Bloom Bar. The flowers change every week, and in March GLI reported that $20 bought eight stems plus ribbon and wrapping paper. Garguilo says kids love it because they get to pick the flowers themselves. She told GLI that there hadn’t been another florist nearby, and that old teachers stop in: “It’s a full-circle moment.” Her website also lists luxury bouquets, grab-and-go flowers, weddings and events, and floral workshops (coming soon). She has already joined the Lindenhurst Chamber of Commerce. Call (631) 984-1388.

COMING NEXT WEEK: Part 2, the class that opened April through June.

Opened in 2026? Tell us. Email ryan@babylonlocal.com with your business name, your town and the month you opened, and we will check it and add you to the Class of 2026.

ALSO NEW IN 2026 (NATIONAL CHAINS AND FRANCHISES)

QDOBA Mexican Eats, Deer Park (January) · Insomnia Cookies, Babylon Village (March) · Teriyaki Madness, North Babylon (March)

Sources: Greater Long Island, “Krazy Ramen opens with noodles and anime nostalgia in West Babylon,” Jan. 12, 2026 · Greater Long Island, “Sporting bar and restaurant featuring pickleball to open in Babylon,” April 24, 2025 · The Agency, Babylon Village restaurant roundup, Aug. 13, 2026 · Greater Long Island, “One woman’s vision blossoms into Butterfly Bouquets in Amity Harbor,” March 9, 2026

Courtside Sport + Social's pepperoni focaccia pizza. Courtside Sport + Social.