After recieving notification recently from Aramark that their lease at the U of A would not be renewed, it seems the uproar from devoted fans of the Filipino eatery has not fallen on deaf ears. Filistix will indeed still need to vacate their space in C.A.B. (last day will be Aug. 10), but have now secured a lease in the Students Union Building (S.U.B.), which is under the direct control of the Students Union, and  not subject to Aramark’s contract with the other University spaces.

This means that Filistix, an extremely popular fixture on the U of A campus for 7 years, will continue to fuel minds and stomachs of higher learning for years to come.

In addition to the good news on the campus front, Filistix is also planning a new bricks and mortar location downtown, which is welcome news for those of us unable to visit the locations in the U of A or MacEwan University.

The new restaurant, complete with the same Filistix name but updated logo, is slated to open in late 2018 at 10621 100 avenue, across the avenue from the Matrix Hotel. The lunch menu will feature the usual Filistix classics, with an expanded menu in the evening featuring more Filipino dishes. Owners Ariel del Rosario and Roel Canafranca wanted to give their Indonesian chefs an opportunity to showcase some dishes from their own country as well, so the menu will be full of South East Asian crossover, including grilled meat skewers and satay.

The new restaurant will feature 24 seats during the day, expandable to 30 in the evening. You’ll also find a selection of Asian beers, such as Filipino favourites San Miguel and Red Horse.

In addition, a small breakfast menu will be added at both the U of A and downtown locations. and del Rosario plans to make breakfast staples like bacon and bread in-house.

“We were totally opposed to a brick and mortar even 1.5 or 2 years ago, but we started seeing the writing on the wall, and our contracts with Aramark were year to year”, says del Rosario. “It’s scary out there. There’s great concepts that just haven’t lasted, but we found this space and the profile of the area was perfect. There’s 66,000 employees within a 1/2 km radius on a daiy basis”.

This will be the first time Filistix’s food will be available to the general public, outside of the two summer festivals they set up at, since shutting down the food truck (trailer) that they launched their brand with two years ago.

U of A campus customers can expect the new digs to be open for the start of the school year, and the downtown location is aiming for a November or December launch.

Check out Filistix on TWITTER and INSTAGRAM for the latest updates.