DropDownList parse value and text from single field?

[littleGreenDude]

When using the Kendo DropDownList, is there a way to parse the value and text fields from a single datasource field?  Possibly using templates (or is the template for display only)?

Html.Kendo().DropDownList()
   .AutoBind(false)
   .Name("cboSearchCriteria")
   .Template("#:Value#|#:Key#")
   .DataTextField("Value")
   .DataValueField("Key")
   .DataSource(ds => ds.Read(read => read.Action("FilterSearchResults", "User")))
       )

DataSource is receiving a list of strings back from "FilterSearchResults".

"AAAAAA|1"
"BBBBBB|2"
"CCCCC|3"