Who has the best Italian beef in the Tri-Cities?

Many readers provide feedback about one of those vital things in life - who offers the best Italian beef sandwich in the area?

They do this because they know I have written on this topic many times, as eating a good Italian beef sandwich in a small shop or a franchise restaurant is as pleasing to me as dining in a five-star restaurant.

The latest debate has been on where the new Buona Beef restaurant on the west side of St. Charles stands in the mix of local offerings.

Feedback has been mixed, but I have found that it always is when it comes to the great topic of excellent Italian beefs. I once raved about Beef Shack, also on the west side of St. Charles, and one reader responded saying he hated it. Another backed my view, saying it was the best he's ever had.

I finally got a chance to try Buona, located on Main Street just west of Randall Road, and was quite pleased with it. I am not sure I would rank it above my area favorite, which remains Beef Shack, but the juicy Italian beef with mozzarella cheese and some tasty fries at Buona will have me back at some point.

As a bonus, my wife, who is fairly reluctant to go to these types of places with me, said her minestrone soup was excellent as well.

If someone were to insist I list my favorite places, the list would look something like this: Beef Shack, Portillo's, Buona Beef and Franky's. I know there are some other good ones out there, Rosati's being one that readers remind me about. But those listed are my current top four.

'Bump' in the night

We'll call it a "pulsating, pumping" noise, because that's how Batavia city administrator Bill McGrath describes it.

When walking along the Fox River in Batavia with my wife last summer, we wondered about that constant noise just west of Clark Island.

We didn't give it much more thought until a reader sent a note, also curious about the odd pounding noise, but also noting it occurred around the clock.

McGrath sent out some staff to investigate at night, and they came back to report that the sound is coming from the Pamarco building, but it wasn't loud enough to be considered a "nuisance."

I'd agree with that assessment. It was more of a curiosity to us than a real annoyance.

In any case, McGrath said even though "sound is very difficult to regulate," the code compliance officials were going to check with Pamarco to see if there is any way to mute the machinery making the noise.

Block those smells

It's hard to imagine any guy is going to care about this next item - because a gym is the last place we'd expect to hunt for pleasant aromas.

Women don't either, really, but let's just say they would be more alert if something actually did smell nice in the gym.

You can generally count on a gym to smell more like sweaty shoes and socks. Let's call it a "gym-locker fragrance." If your gym locker in high school was next to some knucklehead who never took his gym clothes home to be washed, you were exposed to darn-near toxic waste early in life.

But my wife tells me her recent exercise class at the Batavia Park District had a nice scent pop into her nostrils. She had to ask others if they smelled it.

Turns out, it was marshmallow pumpkin latte - a scented hand sanitizer that one of the ladies tried for the first time.

So there you go. There are ways for ladies to mask the smells in a gym that maybe men should consider at some point.

Veterans celebration kickoff

The way to start a "Celebrating Veterans Through Art" event is to have an art gallery reception.

The St. Charles Arts Council is going that route with its pop-up art gallery from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday at 11 E. Main St. Appetizers and drinks are provided.

The work of various artists will be on display to jump-start the veterans celebration, which runs through Nov. 29 with various events.

The gallery theme of "Stories" will reflect the expression of veterans who have served this country. More than half of the artists featured are veterans.

Veterans interviewed for the event's writing project included John Wredling, the former St. Charles schools leader who took time to get involved with the project just before his death last month at the age of 101.

dheun@sbcglobal.net