New Food Truck Rolls into Lunch Scene

(Updated at 2:45 p.m.) It’s only been three days, but already the new Hot People Food truck is gathering a following. The owners are serving up modern Asian food along the Orange line corridor.

With creatively named dishes like “Bikini Beef” and “Hot Girl Salad” it’s obvious the owners like to have fun at work. They’re so confident about their food’s quality that they’re letting customers try free samples.

“No good? No charge. Guarantee!” owner Leopold Liao said.

Liao and his co-owner girlfriend Lauren Liu plan to go to college, but are working to save up money first. They’ve worked in a variety of Asian restaurants for years, and Liao says he’s interested in opening a restaurant in the area. However, he found the market to be unwelcoming at this time.

“I love to cook. I want to open a restaurant,” Liao said. “But with this economy, it’s expensive. You don’t have to pay rent on a food truck.”

The recent H-B Woodlawn graduate has lived in Arlington for about seven years. He loves the area and that’s what prompted the decision to have the food truck based in Arlington. Both Liao and Liu are from China and came to the United States to learn English. Although the dream is still to open a restaurant at some point, right now the focus is on the Hot People Food truck and catering fundraisers and events.

Hot People Food’s website is a work in progress, but does give a menu and daily locations. They’re also relying on twitter to inform followers of where they’ll be. Their first day was last Friday, and they’re spending this week in Rosslyn to get their name out.

And as far as the name? Yes, “hot” does refer to the people in Arlington.

“I thought in this downtown, everybody’s hot,” Liao said. “No matter what you do, everybody’s hot.”