DropDown Displaying Json Date in DataTextField

I had a foreign key kendo drop down list editor template, and the DataTextField was pointed to a DateTime field, it was displaying items in the dropdown in the following json format:

/Date(1124859600000)/

The solution to display it as a simple date was to utilize templates using Kendo Format:

@using Kendo.Mvc.UI
@model IQueryable<Model.Models.OfficeVisit>
@{var val = string.Empty;
  if (Request.QueryString["id"] != null)
  {
      val = Request.QueryString["id"];
  }
  else
  {
      //No Querystring, so use the id from action call:
      val = Url.RequestContext.RouteData.Values["id"].ToString();
  }
}
@{
    Layout = null;
}
<script>
    function GetValue() {
        return {
            Id: "@val"
        };
    }
</script>
@(Html.Kendo().DropDownList()
.DataSource(source =>
{
    source.Read(read =>
        {
            read.Action("GetPatientOfficeVisits", "OfficeVisits").Data("GetValue()");
        });
})
.DataTextField("VisitDate")
.TemplateId("dltemplate")
.ValueTemplateId("dltemplate")
.DataValueField("pk_OfficeVisitID")
        //.DataValueField("ANAPatternDesc")
        //.SelectedIndex(0)
.Name("fk_OfficeVisitID")
.OptionLabel("- Please select -")
 .HtmlAttributes(new { data_value_primitive = true })
)
<script type="text/x-kendo-template" id="dltemplate">
    #:kendo.toString(kendo.parseDate(data.VisitDate), 'MM/dd/yyyy')  #
</script>