A pair of Eugene natives hopes to add some Pacific Islands flair to a downtown Eugene retail space where several cafes have opened and closed over the years.

Sophie Dixon and Michael Zito are preparing to open Uki Uki, a sushi restaurant and tiki bar at 901 Pearl St., on the ground floor of the Eugene Hotel retirement community.

The husband and wife team hopes to open in December at the high-traffic corner of Broadway and Pearl Street, with Dixon, 29, running the business side and Zito, 35, serving as sushi chef. The couple signed a lease for the space this week.

"It's just odd to me that no one has opened a tiki bar in Eugene yet," Dixon said.

Tiki bars are a nod to Polynesian island culture — think fruity cocktails, bamboo walls, beach decor and hula dancing.

But Uki Uki is a sushi restaurant with a bar, not a bar with sushi, they say. And their ideal client isn't the rowdy type of college crowd that could upset the retirees living above.

"Every bar downtown is overrun with young people. I don't feel like there are many bars I'd want go to, because I don't feel like there are people close to my age," Zito said. "That's the demographic we're going for. Not necessarily only the older crowd, but people who will appreciate it for what it is. I wish that place existed, because I'd be going there all the time."

Zito has two decades of experience in the restaurant industry, spanning from the kitchen of the Red Robin near Valley River Center as a 15-year-old to the kitchen of a popular downtown San Francisco restaurant, learning under a James Beard Award-nominated executive chef.

He and Dixon moved back to Eugene two years ago, and Zito got a job at the Whiteaker sushi restaurant Mame. But when Mame closed earlier this year, they decided the time was right for their first venture into business ownership.

"We had actually been talking about opening our own restaurant before (Mame) closed," Dixon said. "We just felt it'd be a great idea to incorporate our ideas of a tiki bar and open our own place."

To prepare for managing the business side, Dixon enrolled in classes through the Lane Small Business Development Center at Lane Community College's downtown Eugene campus. There she learned management fundamentals and how to use online business planning software.

Zito got to work developing an opening menu. The food offerings will constantly change, he said, and include items besides sushi like his variations on barbecue pork steam buns, Japanese-style pancakes and fried chicken, Spanish-style octopus and more. He envisions plates for individuals or groups in the $20 to $40 range, though those details still are being finalized.

Uki Uki also will offer plenty of fruity, nonalcoholic cocktails, said Zito, who doesn't drink.

They expect to employ seven or eight people besides themselves when the restaurant opens.

The space for years was home to a Starbucks, but the coffee chain moved out in 2014 as it opened a cafe two blocks west. Since then, several small restaurants and cafes have opened and closed there, most recently Museo Cafe.

Eugene sushi fans likely will note the heavy competition Uki Uki faces nearby, particularly from 541 Sushi right across Pearl Street and Broadway.

But Zito doesn't consider 541 Sushi, or most other sushi restaurants in town, competition. Only Mame, which is working to reopen this fall, and perhaps Sushi Pure at Fifth Street Public Market, can match his authentic flavors and variety, he said.

"Everyone else in Eugene, I don't even keep in the same category. I'm not saying they're not good, but they have their same style of sushi that I think 10 to 15 sushi bars in town have," Zito said. "Half the problem is people are used to that, so anything more seems extravagant and weird, or too expensive. But really it's standard for what sushi actually is."

A 541 Sushi employee declined a request to speak with the owner when reached by phone.

Follow Elon Glucklich on Twitter @EGlucklich. Email elon.glucklich@registerguard.com.