Meigas, formerly Meson Galicia, was the first and still is the foremost Spanish restaurant in the tri-state area. The ambiance is brightly elegant, much like a four-star restaurant in Madrid, San Sebastian, or Barcelona. Located in a renovated trolley barn, there is also a private party room and a flower-bedecked patio-garden for warm-weather dining.

The genial owner, Ignacio Blanco, changes the menu weekly, sometimes more often. Fresh fish are flown in twice a week from Spain. Blanco has many taste-experiences for the adventurous diner, including foamed foods and genius sauces. Exquisite desserts, little morsels, are served on individual, white China spoons.

"For the holidays," says Blanco, "people love our roast suckling pig. The meat is so succulent, and the skin is crisp."

Shrimp-stuffed quail is another festive offering. Roast pheasant with chestnut foam is another holiday favorite at Meigas. Their foams are famous and can be garniture, desserts or part of a dish. For winter, Meigas is serving a Galician stew with pumpkin foam floating on top!

The restaurant also has an extensive tapas menu. They serve fanciful gels and foams in unexpectedly delectable combinations. Rather than caviar for a festive appetizer, Meigas will have goose neck barnacles and saut?ed baby eels. The delicate baby eels are an esoteric Spanish gourmet delight, tiny and transparent and rare.

And, the barnacles are harvested in only two places - the coast of Galicia and that of Washington State. Gooseneck barnacles can live only on wind-tossed rocky coastlines splashed by cold water.

The person gathering the barnacles is lowered, by the feet, down to the rocks where a basket is filled. The handlers, usually family members, watch for the "seventh wave" which is always a big one, and haul up the barnacles and the gatherer! These delicious mollusks are a rarity, not easy to procure in America.

Meigas has an extensive wine list. And, if you're curious, Meigas is a Galician sorceress. There is certainly a Spanish sorcerer in the kitchen.

(by Nancy T. Maar, a Stamford Plus and Norwalk Plus magazines food columnist)