The Flattened Seafood Tower

Last year during our annual trip to Marco Island, FL, we went to Naples for lunch at The Dock At Crayton Cove where I discovered the Shellfish Tower, which is described as "6 oysters, 12 Prince Edward Island mussels, ½ pound Alaskan snow crab, 6 Gulf shrimp, and 6 middleneck clams with mignonette, mustard and bloody mary cocktail sauce - $34.95."  I’d been looking forward to another one this year but ended up staying home with Madison rather than making the trip to Marco.

Bev had bought a couple of Living Social half priced coupons for the Shrimp Dock Seafood Market and I decided to spend part of it on the makings for my own version of the shellfish tower.  So I invited my buddy Joe over and we just hung out with Madison, made up a batch of margaritas, watched the ferrets play, and made this meal.

Mine was different from The Dock’s in three ways – I forgot to get the crab, part of mine was served hot (theirs is all cold), and mine was flat rather than in the shape of a tower.  We began with 6 cold boiled shrimp, 6 raw oysters, 6 cherrystone clams, Ina Garten’s cocktail sauce, mignonette sauce (from Epicurious), and saltine crackers.

My plan was for each of us to have 6 raw and 6 grilled oysters, but the raw ones were going down so good, we just saved 2 each to grill.

For the warm part of the meal, we had grilled shrimp (for Madison) which were dusted with Emeril’s Essense and basted with garlic butter while cooking, grilled oysters topped with the same garlic butter, and steamed mussels using the recipe from Mary at One Perfect Bite.  Here’s the oysters and shrimp headed for the grill and my plate ready to eat – I poured the liquid from the pan over the mussels, but forgot the garnishment for the plate.

We eat a lot of good grub around Almost Heaven South, but I don't remember ever making a better meal.  While I missed enjoying the Shellfish Tower at The Dock, sitting open-air and looking out on the water, I believe my version was even better as I prefer the mussels hot and liked the addition of grilled shrimp and oysters. And, as a bonus, I’m pretty sure I only had about $35 in everything we ate.  Joe and I decided we need to do at least part of this meal, mainly the raw oysters, on a regular basis.

Happy Thanksgiving To Everyone.

I'm now responding to your comments and hoping you will stop back by - photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

11/17/12 meal date