by Wendy Taylor

Take a stroll down Franklin Avenue: judging by the number of eateries, new, established and soon to open, it may be on the way to becoming the latest Brooklyn restaurant row.

Here’s a sampling of what’s on offer:

Opel’s Caribbean Cuisine, 796A Franklin Avenue, 718-771-0635. Delivery and catering.
A bright neon sign catches your eye, otherwise you might walk right by this small West Indian takeout with just a few seats for customers waiting for orders or those who prefer to eat in. Opel’s serves breakfast, lunch and dinner with specials including oil down and curry crabs and dumplings on Fridays and Saturdays only. Other menu items include roti, patties and pastries.

La Higienica, 736 Franklin Avenue, 718-638-9484. Delivery and catering.
The large menu in this established Spanish-American restaurant starts with breakfast and goes though dinner and dessert, offering a plethora of choice. Specialties of the house include seafood – lobster, shrimp, octopus, codfish and crab stew. Then there are salads, sandwiches, pasta and hearty meat dishes, not to mention desserts – flan, corn or rice pudding. You could eat here every day for a month, sampling something different, sipping exotic batidos like sour sop or mamey. Wine, beer and cocktails are also available.

3-D’s Restaurant and Bakery, 743 Franklin Avenue, 718-399-0578. Closed Sundays.
This small, cozy, bakery is mostly take-out although it does have a few tables. The Caribbean-style menu features favorites such as oxtail, and the bakery offers standards including spice buns and hard do bread. Catering.

Demerara West Indian Restaurant, 717 Franklin Avenue, 718-622-8617. Closed Sundays.
With only two tables this is another mostly take-out restaurant with a West Indian menu. Catering.

Fatima African Restaurant, 789 Franklin Avenue, 718-221-8679.
If you want to try West African food, this busy restaurant looks like good place to start.