Arian Foster -- along with his brother and father -- was involved in a heated standoff at a hot dog stand in Houston this weekend ... and it all started with shoe smack talk.
TMZ Sports has footage of Arian, his brother Abdul and father Carl at Yoyo's Hot Dog around 3 AM on Sunday ... and at first, it seems the ex-NFL star is having fun with some local college kids. Foster says the other man's shoes are "awful."
But things quickly took a turn -- witnesses tell us the college students felt Arian took the insults too far, so they began shouting back at him.