Personally, I've alway loved beef. Any time I dine out at Las Vegas restaurants, I always look for prime cuts or great steaks. No, I don't always order steaks or prime rib. Sometimes I order fish or chicken, but mostly I enjoy ordering great steaks, especially cuts that I cannot find to cook at home.

In fact, the main reason I enjoy ordering a steak when I eat out is because I know most restaurants take pride in ordering the cuts. Any reputable steak house or fine dining establishment will usually have a story about the meat. It's true in Las Vegas and it's true anywhere I travel in the United States. Well, almost. It is not true for most Asian restaurants.

I've often wondered why most Asian restaurants ignore good beef. Sure, I know that most Asian and Chinese restaurants order the cheapest meat and then tenderize it with chemicals or by pounding it with a hammer until it surrenders. But there comes a point when you have to ask yourself: Is this really what it takes to make cheap meat soft?

This is also why when I go to Las Vegas restaurants that serve Chinese beef dishes, I never order beef. No matter how much I want to, I just cannot trust it. I don't want to eat beaten meat. It reminds me too much of Star Trek. Resistance is futile.

Kung Fu Plaza in Las Vegas is the first Asian restaurant to be Angus beef certified.

For as long as I can remember, my parents have always bought a higher grade of beef because we cook Thai as well as Chinese dishes. Our ancestors never ate the cheapest meat so we don't want our guests to eat cheap meat either.

Recently, I mentioned this to one of our customers and he laughed. He said that even if we served 100 percent Angus beef, nobody would believe it because we are an Asian restaurant. I didn't know what to say. So I just said it.

"We do only buy 100 percent certified Angus beef," I said. And he laughed again.

I couldn't believe that everyone would think this way so I asked several more guests. They all told me the same thing: You might have the best Mongolian beef of all Las Vegas restaurants, but nobody believes you buy Angus beef.

I found this all very troubling. So many Asian restaurants buy cheap meat that nobody believes we buy better meat. So, I looked into what we could do and learned that we could apply to become a Certified Angus Beef Licensee. We are now certified!

Receiving certification is not easy. The certifying company reviewed our purchases for six months and visited our establishment during this period to make sure we were only using certified beef products. There were surprise visits. And they double check.

There is a reason they do. Certified Angus beef is considered the world’s premier brand of beef, usually known for its superior standards for marbling, tenderness, and leanness. Angus cattle are also evaluated by the USDA and never by independent graders or plant employees. Less than 8 percent of all beef can earn the brand’s approval for flavor and juiciness.

They only want the best restaurants serving the best beef to be certified. And personally, I do not blame them. My family is the same way. We want a reputation for being a good value, not cheap.

We are well known for our Mongolian beef and spicy beef salad. And now we have a story behind our beef too. In fact, Sysco, one of the largest food distributors in the world, told us that we are the first Asian restaurant and first among Asian Las Vegas restaurants to become certified.

Founded in 1973, Kung Fu Plaza is the oldest and most authentic Chinese and Thai restaurant in Las Vegas. It is open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. It is the most recent of all Las Vegas restaurants to become 100% Angus Beef Certified, and the only Asian restaurant to receive this certification.