Readers' Choice Winner: Café Silvium

Stamford Patch and found a restaurant that features dishes from the southern Italian town of Gravina Di Puglia to be their choice for the best in town: 

The Shippan Avenue restaurant claimed 18 percent of Stamford's 109 votes. Runners-up in the new, weekly poll include  (15 percent) and (7 percent).

And Stamford Patch readers were sure to point out the restaurants we left off as well:

: How could you possibly leave off Columbus Park on this list. It is by far the best Italian in Stamford.

: Stamford Restaurant! Why is it not on the list? We and many of our Darien neighbors cross the line just for their food!

Here's some more information about Café Silvium: The menu includes everything from the usual (chicken, seafood, pasta, salads) to off-the-beaten-path delicacies such as venison, rabbit and even wild boar.

Next week, Stamford Patch is looking for the "Readers' Choice: Best Preschool." The voting begins Monday morning.

Editor's Note: 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 clear with our readers at Patch that this is not in any way a scientific poll. 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. It's also a fantastic way for small and medium business owners — the lifeblood of our local economy — to show how much they appreciate their customers. We take a look at comments, reviews as well as the poll, not just any one aspect, in communicating back to readers who among the group of businesses may rise to the top in readers' minds.And even if one business mobilizes more "votes" over another, everyone comes away with a lot of visibility, great displays of loyalty and, best yet, our corner of the web now has a great deal more information about local businesses. 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 your local editor or Regional Editor Michael Dinan at michaeld@patch.com.