Chef Tin Vuong, business partner Jed Sanford and BlackHouse Hospitality Management recently brought their guns and butterfly decor from Manhattan Beach to downtown Los Angeles. The partners opened the second branch of Little Sister, their burgeoning local chain. Vuong grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and presents modern Vietnamese cooking with flavors that pull no punches.

I sat at the L-shaped bar, across from Vuong, who spot-checked dishes and prepared items from a menu section devoted to rice paper. That category also included cha gio and Autumn rolls with sweet potato and Chinese sausage. However, Pho Banh Cuon ($8) proved to be my personal favorite.

Little Sister serves deconstructed pho with slippery rice paper wrappers, tender beef brisket and crunchy tendon. Complementary fillings include a thatch of aromatic herbs, lettuce and pickled onions. Up top, I found a generous helping of punchy fried garlic, shaved red chilies, and cilantro. The idea is to dip the savory rolls in nuoc cham – chile-spiked fish sauce – to amp up the flavor and umami factors. I’m not sure that this dish will ever be quite so satisfying as a steaming bowl of pho, but Vuong did a great job of capturing the core flavors at Little Sister.