Pho 4 Ever Vietnamese Restaurant and Bar opened in Cordova in August, and I was there the second or third day after it opened, which it turned out was unreasonably soon. It’s the first restaurant for Thuy Tran, and had I known that, I would’ve waited.

I went back this week and found that in the past five months, Pho 4 Ever has found its footing and can turn out a fine bowl of soup and a nice banh mi. It also hums along smoothly, with Tran behind the counter taking to-go orders and running the register, and her sole server at lunch on Thursday, Justin, managing the dining room with friendly efficiency.

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We ordered bun bo Hue, a classic soup that isn’t really pho, but it’s close. Pho usually starts with a long-cooked beef broth infused with aromatics such as cinnamon and anise and can contain ingredients that range from tendon, tripe, brisket and so on to pho ga, which is chicken. So pho is many things.

But bun bo Hue is a specific dish, named after the former capital city of Vietnam and called bun bo when eaten there; it’s only bun bo Hue when eaten elsewhere. It’s labeled a beef soup and yes, it contains beef, but the stock also contains pork, the soup contains pork knuckles, it’s spicier and deeper than pho, flavored with chilies, fish sauce and shrimp paste.

And it comes with cubes of congealed pig’s blood in it.

You can request it be omitted, which I do. No shame there. You should try it once and you might find it’s for you, but I don’t like the heavy minerality or the texture, so I take mine sans blood. And with a little extra chili sauce, because they went a little light on us until we proved ourselves worthy of the spice. But that’s what happens, I guess, when you tell your server to hold the blood; it throws him, makes him uncertain of what you can and can’t handle. And to Justin’s credit, he made sure I was OK with pork hocks before placing the order. After all, who could know?

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Let me tell you this: Any restaurant in town would love to have a Justin right now. We ate lunch late so the dining room wasn’t too busy, but there were five or six tables and he kept everyone happy without looking rushed. He brought two bowls with the bun bo Hue and a large ladle for us to split it. He divided the banh mi for us, and when he overheard us talking about a pho at another restaurant, he appeared with a small bowl of chili paste and asked us if we wanted it.

When we said yes, he put all of it in the soup and stirred it in just as I was saying ‘whoa.’ But he assured us it was the perfect amount for us, and he was right. The soup was served with a plate of Thai basil, a fragrant, licorice-kissed herb that I adore, and shaved banana flowers along with bean sprouts, lime and jalapeno slices to add to it.

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The banh mi was good, full of paté, cucumbers, carrots and herbs, but it’s the short rib banh mi at Le Delights Banh Mi and Pho, just down the street, that remains my favorite, even at double the price.

The menu is large; there are 110 items if you include items 92 through 110, which are juices, coffees and smoothies. I remember a fine vermicelli bowl from my previous visit, and I know that my next visit will include one of the rice plates with egg and pork.

It’s a clean and comfortable place, with twinkle lights in the plants that are no doubt festive at night. The restaurant doesn’t have a liquor license yet, though it plans to— it is, after all, a restaurant and bar — but for now, you’re welcome to take your own.

Pho 4 Ever, 1645 Bonnie Lane, is open Tuesday through Sunday 11 am.-9 p.m.; call 901-474-7831.