Sho Spaeth is the lead writer and editor at ChefSteps.com. He is also the author of Homemade Ramen, a James Beard Award–nominated cookbook.

Sho Spaeth

Behold the ultimate seafood tower!Nothing gets us quite as excited as a plateau de fruits de mer: oodles of oysters and clams on the half shell; plump shrimp cocktail; crab and lobster; crudos and conservas; and, if you’re living large, a tin of caviar and a tray of uni for good measure. It’s not just the delicious seafood—it’s the experience. The tower rises high above the table, glittering with ice, dotted with ramekins of condiments, displaying all the glorious bounty of the sea. The only drawback: You’re gonna have to shell out a bunch of cash for all that shellfish at a restaurant. A seafood tower is a flex, and they’re priced accordingly.But you don’t have to go to a restaurant to get your seafood tower extravaganza fix. You can do it at home! Easy! A lot of stuff can be prepared in advance; the prep itself is minimal when the seafood is pristine. And it’s easy to scale up or down in quantity and complexity of offerings, depending on your needs.We’re going to show you how to make your very own seafood tower at home, whether you want to do a romantic mini-plateau for two or you want to blow dozens of people away with a no-holds-barred party. We’ve got all the tips, tricks, recipes, and guides for making the ultimate seafood tower.