The chef at Genghis Grill is one talented guy. Never has an East Valley restaurant served up a selection of dishes so perfectly designed, in my opinion.

Take their Thai chicken bowl. It’s equal parts chicken and stir-fry vegetables, just the balance I like it. It has a sprinkling of cilantro and goes light on the spinach. There’s a lot of spicy seasoning — too much for most people, I would guess. For my taste, though, it’s perfect. The guy who makes it knows exactly how I like it.

Of course, the guy who creates it is me. At Genghis Grill, like other Mongolian barbecue joints in the East Valley, diners prepare their own dishes just the way they like them.

If my recent visits are any indication, it’s a concept with great appeal. Even at mid-afternoon on weekdays, when most restaurants are all but empty, Genghis Grill is nearly full with a mostly under-30 crowd.

Located in the open-air Tempe Marketplace, the eatery is narrow and deep. The front portion is a dining area, where a hostess seats diners along two long banquettes, and a bar, which serves beer, cocktails and wine by the glass.

The menu is limited to build-your-own bowls ($7.99). The hostess hands you a stainless steel bowl, which you carry to the back of the space where you’ll find a smorgasbord of ready-to-cook ingredients (shown above). There are 15 types of meats, 16 vegetables or vegetable mixes, 12 spices and 13 sauces.

At this point, your meal is up to you. You can create a one-of-a-kind concoction based on your personal preferences. Or you can follow one of a dozen suggested recipes posted on the wall.

The recipes include traditional bowls like teriyaki chicken, beef broccoli and sweet and sour pork. Signature bowls include surf and turf (beef and crab in honey soy sauce), bayou (chicken, sausage, shrimp and fish in roasted tomato sauce) or firecracker (calamari, scallops and shrimp in hot “dragon” sauce).

All ingredients are in clearly labeled bins. To make it even easier, recipes also are numbered and color-coded. So to make Thai chicken — recipe No. 3 — just grab all the ingredients labeled with a No. 3. Want to add a little beef? Extra jalapenos? Fewer snow peas? A different seasoning? It’s entirely up to you.

Once you’ve piled up your bowl, you select a starch — rice, noodles, pasta or tortillas. Then you hand over everything to one of the grill masters and return to your table. The ingredients are cooked on a large, flat-top iron grill. In a few minutes, a server brings a lopsided red bowl filled with your food.

Just the way you like it.

>> Genghis Grill, 2000 E. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe, is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. (480) 777-2695.