Best of Winners: Treat, Sweetooth

Patch readers have spoken and named their favorite places to have dessert. 

In , we've selected two locations,and as our Best of Bedford-Katonah Patch: Dessert winners.

As of Thursday night, treat had a comfortable lead of about 60 votes. In an early morning surge, Sweetooth jumped ahead with 324 votes to treat's 106 votes. (Who woke up with a cupcake craving?)

After considering the reviews on Patch Places, comments to the story and emails of support, we've decided to declare a tie and award the distinction to each—to treat, which offers delightful frozen desserts, and to Sweetooth, offering fresh-from-the-oven creative cupcakes.

Both establishments employ high school students and may have benefitted from having the support of a young, tech-savvy fan base.

When she heard about being selected as a co-winner, pastry chef Kaitlyn Lennox of Sweetooth said she was really pleased.

"What's great is that cupcakes seem to have a young demographic and we feel lucky to have the support," she said. "We're happy to have this publicity so soon after our grand opening."

Likewise, Amy Civetta, co-owner of treat, said they felt very supported by students. "They were a big reason we are where we are, and we try to work around their schedule, for example, staying open late when a play is being performed," she said. "It's nice to have the validation and support from the community."

After the poll closed at 9 a.m. (well, it was supposed to, but didn't expire on time—working on that!) there was another influx of over 200 votes for . (We know who you are, fans of their pear hazelnut soufflé!)

As we mentioned on Monday, an Internet poll is not the most ideal vote-collection system in the world, as we all know. That's why we always strive to be 100 percent transparent with our readers at Patch that this is not in any way a scientific exercise. 

Our readers' choice features are designed to be a fun and completely friendly expression of our collective passion for great food, great service or a great product, all close to home.  And yes, some people will always try to mobilize as much of that energy as they can, but at the end of the day, we hope readers learn what their neighbors love and small business owners appreciate all that hard-won loyalty.

(We know it's not easy to be your own boss these days!) 

So toward that end, we consider comments, reviews as well as the poll—not just any one aspect—in communicating back to readers who rises to the top. It's not an all-or-nothing game. We live and shop here too, so if anyone wants to learn more about how they can interact with their customers on Patch or have any suggestions for future readers' choice features, don't hesitate to reach out to me at LisaB@Patch.com, or Senior Regional Editor Katie O'Connor at kathleen@patch.com.

Tune in next week for Best of: Pet Groomers. The voting begins at 9 a.m. on Monday.