Chilibomb Opens in Fairfield: Calling All Chiliheads!

Calling all chiliheads:  On a portion of Fairfield's Black Rock Turnpike that should be dubbed “restaurant row,” sits a newly opened storefront restaurant, Chilibomb.

The brainchild of Stamford native, Peter Weberg Jr., Chilibomb is the first in the area to serve an impressive array of mouthwatering chilis in addition to having created an Oscar worthy brand for his business. Peter started making chili simply because, he liked it...a lot. From there, he started entering his chili into the numerous fairs and chili contests around the area.  You may have also known him back in the late 80’s when he ran a food truck called Buffalo Pete’s serving hot dogs ‘n’ chili.  After jobs in the food industry behind the scenes, he decided it was time to bring his chili dream to life. “Chilibomb,” aptly named after his hot selling chili of yester year, was finally coined and trademarked in 2008.

So, what do you get when you mix science with chili?  The result is Peter’s vision come true in a store front restaurant made to look like you are stepping into some type of  “ top classified danger zone.”  With playful wording on the menu and in the restaurant like, Chili Warheads, Weapons of Mass Deliciousness, and Build your own Chilibomb, you can really play the part of the “mad scientist.”  He also has bright yellow garbage cans made to look like bomb detonators and black and yellow warning signs on the walls.  If you didn’t know you were in Fairfield County, you could be fooled into thinking you were about to embark on some weird foodie ride at Universal Studios. But here, lab coats and ride tickets are not necessary, napkins are!  

With up to 8 fresh chilis every day, one being the chili of the day, you can be a “Scientist in Training” and order one of their custom built concoctions or risk it all and be a “Mad Scientist” building your own CHILIBOMB by first selecting your chili of choice, choosing the model, either in a bowl, on a plate, or wrap, and then selecting your “cheese shielding” and “payload toppings.”  Some of these toppings include Salsa roasted corn, Sauce Nuclear, Chipotle Drizzle, Pumpkin Seeds, and even Chocolate Chips!!  You can go crazy and knock yourself out. If you never aced it in the Science fair at school, now’s your chance to shine!  The chilis are either labeled “quick sand” or “chunky” style and are all made fresh. There are no freezers in this joint.

Each chili has it’s own heat rating on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being very mild and 10 being super spicy.  Let’s start where the wimps and bonafide chiliheads were separated at birth. Beware of ghosts..ghost peppers that is…Peter’s OMG Chili has a rating of 53 and has an NC-17 Rating, no joke.  If you’re into your forehead breaking into welts and feeling your tongue swell, well go for it. But for the majority, there’s a nice happy medium.  Lot’s of them. We all enjoyed the turkey chili, named, Jack’s Chipotle Turkey, featuring Mr. Jack Daniels. For our resident vegetarian, the Sweet Potato Crossfire went down very well with a nice satisfying mixture of sweet potato, barley and all the right spices.  This vegetarian chili has the chops to compete with the best meat laden chilis. Cincinnati Chili, with a heat rating of only 1, was also  deemed a success and would be PERFECT for “chili training” children or those with a phobia of chili.  With boiled meat, quick sand style texture (think baby food), and sweet underlying notes of turmeric, cinnamon and nutmeg, the Cincinnati chili was warming and flavorful.

Also sampled was the chili of the day, Firecracker Chili, which was Chicken and White Bean which we all promptly devoured.  Needless to say, there is a chili for everyone with the menu offering beef chilis with different degrees of heat, turkey chili, vegetarian chili, and a shrimp one on the horizon. Now let’s get down to the spectacular side dishes that can elevate these chilis to star status.  Honorable mention must be given to Peter’s blue cornbread Slam Dunkers.  Light, airy and slightly sweet, other corn bread we’ve had in the past couldn’t hold a candle to the one we sampled. And for extra bonus points to boot, it’s made from Organic blue corn flour and is made fresh every day.  

There are hot dogs, chili dogs,  chili cheese dogs, freshly hand cut, freshly made fries; fries with cheese, fries with cheese and chili or just chili alone…whoa, slow down Forest Gump!  His cheesy meltdown sauce used for his mac ‘n’ cheese and several other items, is a fresh combination of pec, shredded cheddar, Monterey and parmagian.  No substitutes here, this is also made fresh.

Going forward, let’s just coin the term Triple F for fast food, but fresh as you will not come across an item on the menu that’s not. 

Under their “Weapons of Mass Deliciousness” section of the menu, he has put together items like the Grand Slam which features his Texas Peacemaker chili with ALL the fixins’ on top of 2 blue corn meal WAFFLES in a bowl. Bam! For those of you trying to maintain your health there is the Saladsplosion, a sort of taco salad if you will; but this one has been blessed with extra toppings of roasted corn salsa, Asiago croutons and a Chile infused dressing. Bam, Bam!  And if that hasn’t tempted you, what do you do with Cincinnati Chili? Why, you put it over spaghetti of course. I always knew Ohio was good for something. Here it’s called the 5-Way and it’s sinfully good.

There’s a lot to absorb on the menu and I can tell you I felt slightly ADD looking at it, but fear not as Peter, his mom Marguerite who we now call “Chilibomb Mom” or Michelle, Peter’s very experienced and lovely kitchen manager will guide you through everything!  Peter’s aim is that you are educated on the topic of chili and that your experience is a good one!

More news on the Triple F, his beef based chili’s are made with Angus beef and all of his chilis are made without the use of wheat stabilizers. His fries are fresh cut and homemade every day AND it’s a nut free facility! Are you getting the idea of Triple F yet?   

This place is the bomb! (Well, I figured the only way to finish an article about chili is to top it off with something cheesy!) 

Open Monday through Saturday 11am-8pm and Sundays 11am-4pm.

Chilibomb 2445 Black Rock Turnpike, Fairfield CT. 203.372.BOMB