How to start OS X applications from the command line with optional arguments?

Normally you can find the actual executable in the Contents/MacOS folder of the Application bundle. For Chrome try it like so:

/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --disable-plugins

Generally, you do something like this:

exec "/Applications/MyApp.app/Contents/MacOS/MyAppExecutableFile" [arguments]

Running the exec commmand is important, it will end the terminal session and load the command you want. This way you won't kill your program by quitting Terminal or closing the window.

Be sure to also note what the standard flags are set when you double-click the application in the Finder (I've seen about 4 or 5 standard ones) and pass them too for consistent behavior.

As for what you want to do, check the documentation for the application in question.

I don't know if that is the right flag for Chrome, so I can't comment there.