Giant Rice Balls

choi

Ligaya Mishan, Giant Rice Balls, Subtle and Showy Alike; Near Grand Central, a Japanese chain's 2nd American outpost. New York Times, Apr 18, 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/ ... -gonbei-review.html

Note:
(a)
(i) "O-nigiri (お握り or 御握り; おにぎり), also known as o-musubi (お結び; おむすび)"  en.wikipedia.org for onigiri.
(ii) describing shapes of o-nigiri: "三角形 [関東: Tokyo and its surroundings]・俵形 [関西: Kyoto and Osaka]・球状 [中部地方: mainly 名古屋]"  ja.wikipedia.org for the same ("おにぎり").

俵形 is barrel-shaped ("cylindrical shape" in en.wikipedia.org for onigiri).

(b) Japanese-English dictionary:
* 俵 【たわら(P); ひょう】 (n): "straw bag"
* gonbei 権兵衛 【ごんべえ】 (n): "(1) (arch[aic]) (derog[atory]) country bumpkin; (2) John Doe; used to refer to someone whose name is unknown ['中国語で「張三李四」': ja.wikipedia.org for '名無しの権兵衛']"
   ^ The syllable "bei" denotes a long vowel of "be" -- pronounced as in Japanese surnames Abe or Watanabe, rather than an English verb of the same spelling.
* kari 仮 【かり】 : "(1) temporary; provisional; interim;  (2) fictitious; assumed (name); alias"
* lara-age 唐揚げ【からあげ】 (n,v): "deep-fried food (esp. chicken)"
   ^ tori-kara-age 鶏唐揚げ 【とりからあげ】 (n): "deep-fried chicken"
   ^ age 揚げ 【あげ】 (n): "frying; fried food"

choi

(c) "It [Bomb 爆弾おにぎり; ball-shaped but giant sized] comes entirely wrapped in nori and, when bitten into, reveals a mantle of impeccably fluffy rice, so white that the grains gleam. At its core lie flakes of grilled salmon, tuna tinged with Sriracha-spiked mayonnaise, and kombu for a pop of brine: three rice balls' worth of fillings in one.  The Bomb is the creation of Omusubi Gonbei, a chain founded in Japan in 1999. Its first American outpost opened in 2013 in the food court of Mitsuwa Marketplace, a sprawling Japanese store in Edgewater [across Hudson River from, and connected by George Washington Bridge with, Manhattan], NJ. The second followed last spring, a counter tucked inside Katagiri grocery by Grand Central Terminal."
(i) Omusubi Gonbei  おむすび権米衛 (founded in 1999 by 岩井健次; based inTokyo)
(ii)
(A) For the definition of 権兵衛 in Jim Breen's online dictionary, see (b) above.
(B) "権兵衛（ごんべえ）は、日本の男性名のひとつ（百官名）。名前は兵衛府の権官の意味（ごんのひょうえ）。百姓に多い名前だったため百姓の代名詞としても使われた。"  ja.wikipedia.org for 権兵衛.

my translation: 権兵衛 Gonbei was one of male given name in Japan (coming from titles of a hundred officials [in ancient times]). The name means 兵衛府の権官 [see next].  Many ordinary people had it as their given name, and therefore became a substitute for ordinary people 百姓.
(C) 権官 in Japan can mean a powerful official (as in Chinese), or
"権官（ごんかん）は、朝廷の官職について、正規の員数を越えて任命する官職。「権」は「仮」という意味。"   ja.wikipedia.org for 権官.

my translation: an official appointed beyond the number allowed by law, where 権 means 仮 temporary, interim [see (b)].
(D) Why does the Japanese chain have 権兵衛 in its name?

In its Japanese-language website, the company displays a photo of the founder and CEO (among farmers) in a Web page whose title is 日本の権米衛です (under 会社情報>経営理念).
https://www.omusubi-gonbei.com/idea/
(iii) Sriracha sauce
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriracha_sauce
(iv) Mitsuwa Marketplace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsuwa_Marketplace

, where Mitsuwa is 三ッ和.
(v) Katagiri grocery calls itself "The Oldest Japanese Grocery Store in the USA” (founded by Katagiri 片桐 brothers in 1907.

Paulownia tomentosa  桐
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulownia_tomentosa
(native to central and western China)

choi

(d) "Its other rice balls, known as omusubi or onigiri in Japanese, are more traditional in ingredients and shape, neatly triangular, trussed with a band of nori or shielded by a shiso leaf like a strategically placed fan. But they, too, are larger than life: Omusubi Gonbei claims to use one and a half times as much rice as its competitors."
(i) truss (vt): "to secure tightly : BIND"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/truss
(ii) shiso  紫蘇
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiso
(Perilla frutescens var. crispa)

(e) "The plainest of onigiri is just rice with a press of salt from the fingertips and a stripe of sesame seeds on top. But there's no just: The rice is grown in Japan without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, then shipped unprocessed and milled only once on the premises, to retain its flavor."

For "there’s no just," see
Christine Organ, There's No 'Just' In Stay-At-Home Mom. Scary Mommy, undated
http://www.scarymommy.com/stay-home-mom-just/
("I heard you [any mom] use that word the other day. It fell out of your mouth the way it used to fall out of my mouth[:] * * * I'm just a stay-at-home mom. * * * You worry you are failing at your 'job.' * * * Listen, mama, there is no 'just' in being a stay-at-home mom. * * * You aren't just a stay-at-home mom; you are a nurturer * * * a caregiver")

(f) "Still, I preferred less showy ingredients: takana, pickled mustard greens with a faint, grounding bitterness; umeboshi, salty-sour pickled plum whose residual sweetness fights through; mentaiko (pollock roe), briny and close to cream.  Jako, dark-eyed glassine baby sardines, bodies ossified, taste like shattered deep-sea bacon. They’re threaded through a rice ball framed by shiso leaves, lending a green scent and hint of menthol."
(i) タカナ
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/タカナ
(学名：Brassica juncea var. Integrifolia; photo)

is katakana for "takana."
(ii) umeboshi  梅干
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umeboshi
(photos)
(iii) pollock roe  明太子 (also known as 鱈子 in Japan)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollock_roe
(is the roe of Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) which, despite its name a species of cod)
(iv) The jako じゃこ 雑魚 is short for
ちりめんじゃこ  縮緬雑魚
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ちりめんじゃこ
(photo)

, which is produced by boiling baby sardines (to obtain broth for other uses) and then drying the fish,

(g) "Also on offer are miniature buckets ($3.50 each) of karaage, fried chicken in boneless pieces, all dark thigh, the meat rich from a bath in soy sauce."

See (b) for definition of "karaage" where "kara" 唐 refers to China.