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I'm an American that just got back from living in Madrid for a year and figured that I'd elaborate a little bit more on the Spanish eating style.
Typically, I'd eat something small before I went to work, a piece of fruit or a snack bar.
At 10:30 or so in the morning we'd go for coffee and pan con tomate or other "tostas" which are essentially toast with something on top.
From 1:30 - 3:30 its lunch time and most people go eat a menu del dia. The menu is a holdover from the time of Franco in which everyone was guaranteed a good meal for a cheap price (8-12 euro typically). As such, most companies offer you meal vouchers that you can use at most restaurants. The menu is a fixed price meal consisting of a primero - salad, soup, rice dishes (including Paella), egg dishes, a segundo - almost always a meat or fish dish, usually served with a side salad or potato dish. Lastly there is a dessert dish which is either a basic cake or fruit dishes. The price also includes wine or water but beer or soda costs extra.
Dinner time is later in Madrid than anywhere else in Spain. If you're eating in 8:30 or so is typical eating time but if you're eating out 9:30 is a more normal time (this moves even later in the evening). There are normal dinners but tapas are quite common. Because the main meal is definately lunch, dinners are much smaller consisting either of tapas which are ordered individually or raciones which are shared. There are also a number of tapas bars which give you free tapas every time you order a drink (this includes canas which are super small beers).
Hope that clears stuff up on Spanish eating.
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