Today’s Special: Aaron’s Peruvian Rice Bowl

Aaron Lara added a final touch — a sprinkling of freshly cut scallions — to a Peruvian rice bowl, one of the most popular dishes at Bomb Wings and Rice. With its combination of marinated chicken, aji verde (a flavorful green sauce) and rice and vegetables fried fast in Bomb’s special sauce, the dish balanced tastiness and healthiness, or, as owner Jason Teal put it, ​“naughty and nice,” a mindset that has guided Bomb since its opening in March 2019 and through the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We’re a fried rice bar,” Teal said of the restaurant on Whitney Avenue in Hamden.

That means ​“you get to pick your own rice, vegetables, protein and toppings … but for people who aren’t comfortable building their own bowl, we have a bunch of custom-made bowls already put together for them.”

Take-out and delivery orders will prove crucial to the ability of local restaurants like Bomb Wings and Rice to weather the pandemic during the coming months as Covid-19 cases climb and cold weather sets in. Call ahead at (203) 745‑5510 or visit the restaurant’s website to order takeout or delivery of dishes like the Peruvian rice bowl. There is no indoor dining. Bomb is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The Peruvian fried rice bowl includes jasmine rice, bell pepper, Spanish onion, roasted garlic, sliced chicken breast marinated in a housemade chipotle sauce, and those fresh scallions. It’s one of six custom bowls that all have different flavor profiles.

One, the reggae rice bowl, employs Jamaican flavors. Another one tilts toward Thai tastes.

Bomb’s wings come in 11 different flavors ranging from sweet and tangy (a popular choice, Lara said) to pineapple habanero. The wings are marinated for 48 hours, then slow-cooked and flash-fried upon order, ​“so it’s a healthier version of the wing, because it’s not in the oil the whole time,” Teal said. ​“It’s almost like a baked wing. The fryer just adds a little color, a little flavor, and a little crisp.” Vegetarians can forgo the chicken for crispy Brussels sprouts in Thai chili sauce, broccoli in garlic sauce, sweet plantains, and Buffalo cauliflower.

“We drew things from different cultures and made fried rice bowls out of them,” Teal said. “Peruvians are known for their four-hour rotisserie chicken and they’re known for this amazing aje sauce, which everybody loves.”

The roving menu emerged in the first few months of Bomb’s operation. “At first we were doing a soul food-Chinese thing,” Teal said. Then, he recalled, they — that is, he, co-owner Ray Guilbault, and Lara — thought, “Let’s just start adding other cultural variations.”

Bomb didn’t start off as a takeout place at all. “I’m not a restauranteur by nature. I’d never even worked in a restaurant” before Bomb, Teal said. He and Guilbault have an apparel manufacturing company; they have their own clothing line, called 8&9, and make clothing for other companies as well. In 2013 Teal found himself president of the NAACP Wallingford-Meriden chapter and was looking for a way he could give back to his community. He started a nonprofit called Change the Play, a Meriden-based program that mentors at-risk youth.

“I was taking kids from the hood, kids that were getting arrested and expelled or suspended from school, and I was teaching them entrepreneurship, but we were doing it through sports, music, entertainment, and fashion,” Teal said. Change the Play began collaborations with Hillhouse High School and with schools in Meriden, and reached as far as Boston and into juvenile correctional facilities. Some of the kids “had felonies,” Teal said, “so it was going to be hard for them to get a job. So we said, ‘listen, all is not lost.’” The program helped show kids how to “start some businesses with the realistic resources they have at hand.”

Around 2017, “I noticed that a lot of my kids were hungry,” Teal continued. “So I partnered with a local church in Meriden, where I’m from,” and started making meals. The first summer of operations, they fed 200 kids each day. He soon outgrew the capacity of the church’s kitchen. He started looking for a commercial kitchen to rent. But “people were charging me so much money just to rent for a few hours,” he said, that he thought, “I’m not paying all this money. I could start a business for this. So I started a restaurant. This restaurant was really started to feed hungry kids.”

Over a year later, it still does. “In the morning, my nonprofit team comes in and they make all the free meals for the kids,” Teal said. Around mid-morning, the kitchen flips over, “and we get the restaurant ready for service. It’s designed so that a portion of the profit will go back into the food program for sustainability, so we can keep feeding hungry kids. So every time you eat a bowl, it helps further the nonprofit’s mission of feeding kids and educating kids.”

A Taste Of Peru

To assemble the Peruvian rice bowl, Lara started with the marinated vegetables, which he quickly browned in chicken stock.

To be able to make fresh rice bowls made to order, the kitchen preps the vegetables beforehand. This meant that Lara could just reach over and grab the peppers, onions, and other savory veggies he needed.

The vegetables went into a wok with a little oil, already hot and ready to cook. The veggies were sizzling loudly upon contact.

Next he added the rice — also already pre-cooked, but now taking in the flavors of the vegetables and Bomb’s special rice sauce.

Rice and veggies then went into a bowl. Lara added the chicken on top.

Next came a generous helping of aje over the top of everything, and after that, the fresh scallions.

The Peruvian rice — paired with a small order of sweet and tangy wings, crispy Brussels sprouts, and sweet potato cornbread served with cinnamon glaze — could feed three people, or in this reporter’s case, said reporter and his teenage son.

As a takeout place from the start, Bomb was perhaps unusually prepared for the shutdowns imposed by the pandemic.

“For restaurants to survive in the future, they’re going to have to incorporate GrubHub, UberEats, and all of these third-party delivery methods into their business model,” Teal said. ​“We built this business model around third-party delivery. So when the pandemic happened, we were already in the wheelhouse. It was all we ever did.” People can also come to the physical location to pick up their orders.

In talking about the balance between flavor and health in Bomb’s food, Teal also spoke about keeping up with the times. ​“Americans are finally starting to move into healthier lifestyles and healthier eating, but we’re not all there. So we have a menu that’s a little naughty and a little nice. You can go all the way vegan or you can get wings.” Teal wants to make sure Bomb has something for everyone.

“You got to grow with the country,” he said.

Previous coverage of recommended take-orders to help keep local businesses survive the pandemic:

• Today’s Special: Haci’s Napoletana Pie
• Today’s Special: Fred & Patty’s Brie On Baguette
• Today’s Special: Nieda’s Moist Falafel
• Today’s Special: Qulen’s Vegan ​“Wings”