We will be closed Sunday, January 1, 2012 for New Years.  Have a blessed and blissful 2012!

Holiday Hours: We will be closed Saturday, December 24th and Sunday, December 25th for Christmas. Happy Holidays to all our customers from the staff of the Inn Season Cafe!  Resuming regular hours Tuedsay, December 27th.

We will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, have a happy enjoyable time with your friends and family!

ROYAL OAK, Mich., Sept. 22, 2011 —  In 1981, Kirk Gibson was Tiger of the Year, U2 played Harpo’s, hair was big…and a small, cozy restaurant called the Inn Season Cafe opened its doors on 4th St. in downtown Royal Oak.

The restaurant’s dedication to natural, locally sourced vegetarian cuisine developed a loyal following.  Today, the bustling dining room and frequent lines down the sidewalk are a testament to its enduring status as a favorite midwest destination for creative, gourmet vegetarian and vegan dining.  This fall, Inn Season Cafe is celebrating 30 years of fresh and flavorful fare with a free open house, free cupcakes and other giveaways.

The 30th Anniversary Open House takes place on Monday, Oct. 17 at the cafe from 6 until 10 pm. Food and beverages that celebrate the local harvest will be served, complimented by a wine tasting of eight varietals, entertainment by string trio Cassini Ensemble and the opportunity to meet former owners John Armstrong and Maggie O’Meara, founding chef George Vutetakis, and current owners Nick Raftis and executive chef Thomas Lasher.  Admission to the event is free.

“We look at this as an opportunity to thank our loyal customers, and to introduce others to the creative, healthy and beautiful food of the Inn Season Cafe,” says Raftis.

To further celebrate its 30th birthday, Inn Season Cafe will feature free cupcakes with every order all day long on September 30, October 30 and November 30. Flavors will vary; all cupcakes are vegan and many are gluten-free, as well.

Additional freebies include weekly giveaways through November 30 at the restaurant and on Facebook fan page “Inn Season Cafe.”

Frequently named “Best Vegetarian Restaurant” by the local media, Inn Season Cafe was recently recognized by Health magazine as one of six independent restaurants in America with an innovative, healthy menu.  Offering locally sourced, organic cuisine including vegan, gluten-free, wheat-free and soy-free options, it also is Royal Oak’s only kosher-certified restaurant.  Inn Season hosts special events throughout the year and has a popular vegan cookbook available for sale, Vegetarian Traditions: Favorite Recipes from My Years at the Legendary Inn Season Café, by founding chef George Vutetakis.

For more information, visit Facebook fan page “Inn Season Cafe” or theinnseasoncafe.com.

Closed this weekend for the Woodward Dream Cruise.  Reopening Tuesday with regular hours.

Inn Season Café is pleased to invite Kathryn Pistor in an exhibit of current paintings.
“What if flowers took over the world… dragged themselves across the surface of the earth dwarfing everything in their path, spreading their beauty and perfect fragrance —swelling towards us in waves of color; looming on the horizon as approaching floral storms? These flowers would need to be fierce, bold, courageous…
Meet a few of them in this room. Welcome.”
Something happens when people see Kathryn Pistor’s paintings. Whether they feel haunted, overwhelmed, tickled, at peace; whatever their reaction, they are shifted. For they have glimpsed the energy of life in her art.
“…art, truth, and beauty are the keys that unlock the soul from its cell of sadness. Painting hands me my wings and invites me to the great, fun party called life.”
Painting has lived in Kate’s soul for lifetimes. Finally, today, she is able to plunge into the whirlwind energy of art and manifest what she has seen. For Pistor, retrieving images from the ethers and arranging them in colors and postures on a canvas is a privilege, an honor—and a whole lot of fun. For this reason, she paints with gratitude, with grace, and with an enthusiasm that makes her spirit soar.
Kathryn Pistor, wife of abstract expressionist and fellow Inn Season artist, Steven Pistor, has studied with artist and teacher, Leslie Masters. Kathryn can be found on the website – www.guild.com/kathrynpistor

ROYAL OAK, MI., August 8, 2011 – Royal Oak-based Inn Season Café, marking its 30^th year as the region’s favorite destination for creative, gourmet vegetarian and vegan dining, announces that it is now a kosher-certified establishment.

“Nothing about the high quality or integrity of our food will change as a result, except that our many customers who maintain a kosher diet will now always feel comfortable eating here,” said Nick Raftis, owner of the Inn Season Café.

The restaurant was certified by Rabbi Jason Miller of Kosher Michigan, an agency he launched that has since certified some 30 businesses as kosher, including bakeries, spice companies, ice cream parlors and others, and oversees kosher catering for Michigan State University.

In addition to inspecting every ingredient used by the chefs at Inn Season for kosher certification as well as the processes used in the kitchen in the preparation and creation of the dishes, Miller was a considerable resource to the restaurant staff.

“I really enjoy teaching about kashrut (the Jewish dietary laws),” said Miller.  “I love meeting with the employees and answering their questions. Kosher certification is built upon trust and maintaining a kosher kitchen is a total team effort – from the executive chef to the sous chef to the servers and dishwashers. The staff members at Inn Season are passionate about the restaurant and care deeply about the fresh, tasty food they prepare and serve. It was a pleasure to work with them to achieve kosher certification. ”

Raftis was encouraged and educated by his Orthodox Jewish friends about the dietary laws of the Jewish faith, and he recognized that the restaurant’s vegan/vegetarian offerings were a good fit for the kosher-keeping community.

“There were very few things that needed to be changed in order for the restaurant to meet my standards,” added Miller.  “They take veganism very seriously and were amenable with the changes I needed them to make to become strictly kosher.”

Inn Season Café began operating as a kosher establishment on Aug. 2.

“It’s exciting to have another quality kosher dining option in town,” said Dan Horwitz of West Bloomfield, who ate lunch at the restaurant on the first day of its certification.

“There aren’t a lot of kosher restaurants in our community, so as soon as I heard that Inn Season had obtained certification I came right over to try it.  I was impressed with both the quality of the food and the service, and I’ll definitely be back.”

ABOUT INN SEASON CAFÉ – Celebrating 30 years of serving fresh and flavorful gourmet vegetarian fare, Inn Season Café is a favorite destination for foodies across Michigan and beyond.   Its locally sourced, organic cuisine includes vegan, gluten-free, wheat-free and soy-free options. The restaurant hosts special events throughout the year and has a popular vegan cookbook available for sale, Vegetarian Traditions: Favorite Recipes from My Years at the Legendary Inn Season Café, by founding chef George Vutetakis.  Frequently named “Best Vegetarian Restaurant” by the local media, the cafe was recently recognized by Health magazine as one of six independent restaurants in America with an innovative, healthy menu.

ABOUT KOSHER MICHIGAN – Kosher Michigan is a kosher certification agency directed by Rabbi Jason Miller, a Conservative rabbi ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City who also studied with Rabbi Joel Roth, a renowned expert in the field of kosher supervision. Rabbi Miller promotes kosher observance through the supervision and certification of select institutions, vendors and products meeting several criteria. Rabbi Miller feels strongly that kosher certification need not be monopolized by the Orthodox Jewish establishment. Kosher Michigan encourages the businesses it certifies to be ethically responsible in all areas of their business.

For more information: www.theinnseasoncafe.com or www.koshermichigan.com

Beginning Tuesday, April 19^th and running through July 24, 2011 Inn Season Café is pleased to invite Stephen Kinnard for an exhibit of his photography.

Stephen Kinnard moved way too much as a kid. He found a way to make the most of it by shooting photographs during a cross-country move to California when he was twelve. His knack for observing detail, pattern, light, and space found a home and flourished as he toted his camera everywhere he went, at home and abroad. He is an opportunistic photographer who captures landscapes, nature, architecture, and abstract fine art images with simple elegance.

Stephen completed formal education at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is a part-time faculty member of the Digital Media Arts Department at Washtenaw Community College.

For more information, please visit his website at: www.stephenkinnard.com/shop

If you are interested in purchasing any of the photography, you may contact the artist at: (734) 239-3917 or by email at: info@stephenkinnard.com