BABYLON EATS · BABYLON VILLAGE

The long-empty Ristorante Gemelli space at 175 E. Main Street is a diner again, and the family behind it has been in this business a long time.

Whiskey Down Diner opened its second location in Babylon Village on Monday, September 28, after several days of soft openings for friends and family.

It is roughly double the size of the original Farmingdale restaurant — a bigger dining room, high ceilings, an outdoor patio, and a bar set in the middle of the floor rather than pushed against a wall.

“The bar is right in the middle … it’s awesome,” co-owner Alyson Kanaras told Greater Long Island before the opening.

For her, Babylon was the point.

“I always wanted to be in Babylon. I live in Babylon. I love it there,” she said.

Whiskey Down was founded by Alyson and her siblings, John and Kristina. Their father, Peter Kanaras, has owned the Olympic Diner in Deer Park since 1980 — it is where their parents met and where the three of them learned the business.

“I am a diner girl through and through,” she has said.

The family spent about two years building the concept before the first location opened in Farmingdale in June 2019: a shorter menu, elevated comfort food, and far more attention to the bar than a traditional diner gives it.

The Babylon deal took its own two years of conversation before the lease was signed in December. The village held a public hearing on the special-use permit in February, and construction started in April.

The menu came over unchanged — breakfast, burgers, sandwiches and disco fries.

“I want the menu to be the same and just translate right over to Babylon,” Kanaras said.

Photos: Ryan Williams / Babylon Local, October 1.

Sources: Patch · Greater Long Island · Whiskey Down Diner