Marcus Samuelsson and Jim Clerkin receive a South Beach tribute

Marcus Samuelsson and Jim Clerkin were honored at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s February 22 tribute dinner. The Loews Miami Beach Hotel hosted the occasion, with Andrew Zimmern and Melba Wilson as masters of ceremonies.

The evening also included recognition of the late Leah Chase and Florida International University professor Chip Cassidy. Those tributes broadened the focus from current achievements to the people whose work helped shape culinary practice and hospitality education.

That combination gives a festival dinner a purpose beyond celebration alone. An industry is sustained by restaurants and businesses, but also by teachers, mentors and figures whose influence continues after their own work has ended. By placing those histories beside the careers of the principal honorees, the program made room for a more complete account of how food culture develops. Miami Beach again served as the gathering point for that conversation.