🫶 What do you love about SLC?

James Beard Love for SLC

Salt Lake City earned national recognition in the 2026 James Beard Award semifinals. Junah is in the running for Best New Restaurant, Post Office Place for Outstanding Bar, and five SLC chefs for Best Chef in the Mountain region. Winners will be announced in June 2026. [James Beard Foundation]

Utah’s Only Yelp Standout

In other food news, only one Utah restaurant made it to Yelp’s top 100 restaurants in the nation, and that restaurant is Slackwater. [FOX 13]

KUER, PBS Utah Cut Staff

KUER and PBS Utah laid off about 10% of their combined staff, after losing a key federal funding source. While no further layoffs are planned, the stations face a $3 million budget gap, with PBS Utah warning of upcoming programming cuts and KUER asking remaining staff to take on additional duties. [Salt Lake Tribune 🔒]

• Wanna support? Attend a PBS-themed Science Cabaret on Saturday, Feb. 21. A third of the proceeds will go to Utah public TV and radio.

Should SLC Run Its Own Electric?

Our Rocky Mountain Power electric bills went up last year. Now, we’re told they could go up again this year! But, several major cities run their own power, with profits benefitting taxpayers. Should Salt Lake City get in the game? [City Cast Salt Lake 🎧]

To mark the 1,000th episode of City Cast Salt Lake, we want your help building a list of 1,000 things we love about Salt Lake. It can be anything: your neighborhood coffee shop or the view of the mountains from your window. Here are a few of your responses so far, to get the juices flowing.

Outdoors & Wildlife

“One of my favorite things about Salt Lake is seeing deer walking about when I take a sunrise walk in my area.” — @jasminekhaliq

“So many things to love about SLC, but the hiking is incredible! I love Lake Blanche.” — @channing.cochran

“I love the fall season in the mountains. Watching the colors change is amazing.” — @avani_patel3190

“New faves are the Fairpark turkeys!” — @vedderreese

Food & Drink

“Love seeing all the new restaurants and food trucks opening. Utah is a great place to start a business.” — @carlabancroft

“I love Tea Zaanti. It fuels me to keep studying.” — @neuronapoptosis

Arts & Culture

“Seeing movies at The Broadway!” — @steinhorstl

“I love the haunted houses, like Nightmare on 13th, and the enthusiasm around the Halloween season in general.” — @redwanderings

“I love its evolution, always changing and growing. Totally different city from when I was a kid, in a good way!” — @turtlelionmama