Kim Thao is not one person but two: Kim Tran and Thao Nguyen, who met in a doctor’s office, became friends and decided to launch a Vietnamese bakery, market and take-out operation together. Kim is the cook; Thao runs the front of the house, and from the looks of things, they’ve already been embraced by the community since their mid-October opening. It’s easy to see why. This friendly place, which looks like it may have been an upscale sports bar in a former life, provides an awesome excursion into lesser-known aspects of Vietnamese cuisine.

There are plenty of tables for people who want to grab-and-stay but grab you must. There’s no ordering from a menu, but rather a long cafeteria-style line stocked with ready-made dishes tucked into clear plastic take-out containers. You snag a tray at the beginning of the line and cruise along, choosing what appeals to you. Thao tells me that Kim gets there at 4 a.m. to make the tofu (a specialty that takes many forms here) and start cooking the dishes that she’ll replenish throughout the day. Nothing sits there for more than a few hours.

You may not find every Vietnamese dish with which you’re already familiar, but you’re likely to discover some new dishes that you’ll want to add to your repertoire. At least, that’s how it went for me. Although I’ve never had Xoi Man before (it’s a street food in Vietnam), it contained many familiar components: savory sticky rice topped with slivers of meat (the box said “barbecued pork” and “pork ham,” but one of the ingredients appeared to be Chinese sausage, the other the ham used in banh mi), onion, garlic, soy, dried shrimp and fluffy threads of dried pork, whose dry, airy texture offers surprising little bursts of sweetness, salt and pork ($6.99). My friend and I loved it.

Dâu Hu Chien Sa Ót (lemongrass chile tofu) was just as compelling. Six golden rectangles of firm tofu, pan-fried until their edges were faintly crispy, came topped with an aromatic blend of minced lemongrass and birds-eye chile — which offered up that floral quality I love about lemongrass, as well as notes of citrus, earth and chile heat. They were even better the next day after a brief warmup ($7.99).

We skipped the banh mi this visit and zeroed in on the brilliantly white steam bun called Banh Bao, fluffy and faintly spongy, stuffed with an orb of sweet pork and a hard-cooked quail egg ($3.50)

What impressed me more, however, was the flaky, puffy-topped meat pie called Pâté Chaud, a hybrid holdover from Vietnam’s French Colonial era. Stuffed with a firm ball of ground chicken, dotted with green peas, it’s faintly sweet inside, gloriously layered and buttery outside. I could eat a half dozen in a blink, pretty sure ($3.25).

My buddy was less keen on Bánh Bôt Loc than I was — probably because of its chewy texture — but I fell in love with them. Ten small dumplings, stuffed with pork and shrimp, were cloaked in a translucent tapioca wrapper, then bundled again in banana leaf and steamed. Their delicacy is nicely offset by sides of salty fish sauce and sweet chile dipping sauce ($7.50).

I’d read that Kim Thao’s makes tofu pudding (Dau Hu Nuoc Duong) and asked about it. The friendly guy behind the counter gave us each a sample, and I’m here to tell you, it was luscious. Creamy, silky tofu, set in an amber puddle of ginger-scented brown sugar syrup and spooned with a bit of soy milk. This can be bought in large containers and assembled at home, and next time, I will do just that — after I’ve stuffed myself on more Vietnamese dishes I’ve never tried before.

2050 N. Alma School Rd., Chandler, 480-687-9132, kimthaobakery.com

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