DINING OUT: Brooklyn diners, whet your appetites!

The smorgasbord of Brooklyn dining options will be spread out before eager eaters from March 19 to 29, during the borough’s ninth annual “Dine In Brooklyn” week.

The event is really a week and a half long – but who’s complaining, given that approximately 200 renowned eateries from all around the borough will be offering three-course lunches for $20.12 and three-course dinners for $25, with some of them actually offering two-fers, at lunch and dinner, and some at brunch as well.

The list is still in formation, but Borough President Marty Markowitz couldn’t wait to kick off the eagerly-awaited event on Tuesday, March 13, with a tasting of some of the fare to be offered at Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street.

Surrounded by chefs and restaurateurs dishing out their specialties, Markowitz stressed that the event would showcase, “Everything from good old-fashioned comfort food and locally-sourced artisanal menus to cutting edge culinary creations, Glatt kosher and ethnic eats from every corner of the globe. The hottest ticket to the world’s cuisine is a MetroCard.

“Foodies,” he announced, “the wait is over. In Brooklyn, your table is waiting.”

If the food served up at the kick-off is any indication, most diners’ biggest decision will be deciding where to eat.

I sampled the goodies from about half a dozen different restaurants before giving up because I couldn’t eat another bite. It was all amazing.

I loved the Chicken Delight and Hydrabadi Biryani from Baluchi’s, an Indian restaurant with branches in Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights. The chicken was reminiscent of Tandoori, the rice was flavorful without being overwhelmingly so, and the kick came from the dash of coriander chutney that accompanied the morsels.

Jamie-Lynn Mollo, of Jamie Lynn’s Kitchen on 86th Street in Bensonhurst came prepared with some of the specialties she will be including on her Dine In Brooklyn menu. If, like me, you love the food of the Eastern Mediterranean, you will find her feta-spinach wonton with red onion marmalade especially addictive; a perfect foil was the grilled pita bread salad.

I hadn’t had nearly enough of that sort of fare, so I gravitated to the table where the owners of Okeanos, in Park Slope, were dishing out their specialties –a meatless Moussaka that featured slices of eggplant wrapped cup-like around a lentil-based filling, and grape leaves stuffed with rice. Both had the haunting flavor of food from that region, familiar yet subtly different, rich yet not overly so.

It was time then for a cross-continental shift, so I ambled over to the table manned by Cantina Royal, a Williamsburg restaurant, where I enjoyed an elegant tostada topped with cooked spinach and a shaving of raw onion and garnished with a slice of lime.

Numerous area restaurants are taking part including 28 as of this writing from Bay Ridge, four from Bensonhurst and one from Sunset Park. For the complete list, log onto www.visitbrooklyn.org.

Then, make your reservations, urges Markowitz. “The restaurants have to have a barometer of participation,” he explained. Markowitz also reminded diners to show appreciation for good service by tipping appropriately, based upon the actual value of the food rather than the special “Dine In Brooklyn” price.