The Spanish cuisine is something far beyond food. It's a party. It's a show. It's a night on the town. At Spanish restaurants in Miami, of which there are many, you can find flamenco, joyous games of Pass-the-Wine-Bota, raucous dancing and live music, and more. And at all these impromptu dinner parties, patrons stop here and again to nibble on tapas, the single-serving ''bites'' brought both hot and cold.

No South Florida burg seems more Spanish than Coral Gables, which has several Spanish spots -- including Diego's, maybe the largest. Occupying the ground floor and plaza of the sparkling new Columbus Center Building on Alhambra, Diego's lets the fun sprawl, with several dining rooms and a large centerpiece tapas bar. On a recent Wednesday night -- Ladies Night, to boot -- the place was hopping, with revelers crowding the bar, perhaps doing more drinking than eating, but the dining rooms were pretty well packed, too. Live music originated from near the bar and permeated the restaurant, both plus and minus (they might think about a less powerful speaker, at least for those in the dining room).

Diego's menu goes on for page after page, with plenty of price points. You can dine to bursting on tapas, or nibble a few of those and crown that with an entrée; whatever you like. We found worthy things in all sizes, including miniature -- as in a plate of boquerones in vinagre (tiny grilled fresh anchovies, $8.75). Those predetermined to reject anchovies as over-salted pizza frosting should withhold judgment: These are not a bit salty, grilled morsels flavored with a tangy marinade of vinegar, garlic, parsley and olive oil.

No Spanish menu can be authentic without the round tortilla española ($7.75), a thick and savory omelet. Diego's tapa size is about six inches in diameter, and it's hearty and filling, with potato and fruity onion flavor. Ours, whisked to the table within two minutes of ordering, was obviously cooked in advance and brought from the tapas bar, as are many of the tapas.

An ensalada de esprragos ($8.25) featured six fat stalks of soft white asparagus in a simple vinaigrette. White asparagus has a milder flavor than green, and these were cooked too long to retain even that, unfortunately. Still, the effect was refreshing and cool.

Two soups were something else, though. Sopa Diego's ($5.25) is a richly chickeny soup with plentiful flecks of Serrano ham and white rice. Allegedly, there are mushrooms and asparagus, but they're hard to detect, fine-chopped beyond recognition. But no matter: This has great chicken flavor, and the ham adds pleasurable saltiness.

Sopa Puerto Santa María ($6.25) is even better. It's a tomatoey seafood chowder with a touch of Pernod and lots of seafood -- shrimp, mussels, many rings of marvelously tender squid -- and a wonderfully smoky flavor that gets the right kick from a shot of Tabasco, should you wish to monkey with tradition. Excellent stuff.

On to entrées. Lomo de res pimienta ($25.95) seemed to be the most appealing steak, billed as a New York strip grilled to order (slightly to the rare side of what we ordered, actually) and served atop a green peppercorn sauce. Meat was juicy and it imparted plenty of flavor. Sauce had too much of a gluey, thick character to it -- sometimes peppery and welcome, other times just overly heavy and irrelevant. Along with came colorful fresh steamed vegetables and scalloped potatoes.

The party kicks up with pargo al horno Diego's ($30.95). This is a signature dish here. Red snapper is baked whole in a wood-burning oven in a white wine sauce, along with potatoes and onions. A pair of servers prance to the table with a large rectangular platter and a Dutch oven. One supervises as the other fillets the fish with fanfare onto the plate, serves potatoes and onions, gives a ''buen provecha'' and marches off. This fish is steaming hot and delicious, pearly white and light, and the sauce accent, not overkill.

Pimientos de piquillo rellenos de mariscos ($22.95) is a much different kind of dish, but almost as good. Four ruby-red roasted peppers are stuffed with mixed seafood and baked. They're arrayed on the plate amid a luxurious pool of saffron and red pepper sauce, creamy, rich and mildly flavored, a nice foil to the spicy peppers and savory, plentiful seafood.

Nothing ruins a party like gluttony, we say. For dessert, we opted for light rice pudding ($5.25), a delicious, faintly sweet treat, refreshing and cool, with an urgent flavor of cinnamon.