Award-winning singer-songwriter and actor Dwight Yoakam has announced the addition of “Boom Boom Shrimp” to his line of frozen food products. For those of you who didn’t know, the rail-thin, black-hat-wearing country crooner already has a line of “Bakersfield Biscuits” and “Lanky-Links” in the marketplace. Boom Boom Shrimp are pre-baked, tail-off and lightly breaded with a Buffalo-style seasoning. They are available at supermarkets and Wal-Marts nationwide. “Just heat ’em and eat ’em,” suggests Yoakam.

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Speaking of celebrity food products, have you tried the new “Cooking Guy Turkey and Bacon Panini” available at the (key word, “the”) participating McDonald’s in Carmel Valley? According to Sam “The Cooking Guy” Zien, several months ago the chef at that particular McDonald’s asked the Fox-6 News personality to create a special sandwich for the new deli menu. “It has been a big seller and I’m especially proud that it’s available at the drive-thru window,” Zien boasts.

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An April grand opening is planned for Downtown’s newest hotel, the Omni San Diego. Located at 675 L St. in the Gaslamp Quarter, the hotel is connected to Petco Park via a sky bridge. The Omni features a sixth floor balcony and restaurant called The Terrace Bar and Grill, as well as a lobby-level restaurant, McCormick and Schmick’s.

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Wow! Look at the eight-page spread on Arterra Restaurant’s Carl Schroeder in the latest issue of Art Culinaire. Volume 71, focusing on grits, features recipes, juicy photographs and an in-depth interview with our esteemed local chef. Art Culinaire, the subscription-only, hardcover quarterly periodical, honors excellence in the world of gastronomy.

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Congratulations to San Diego Coffee Co. for being selected as the exclusive coffee and espresso supplier for Petco Park. This local company has been roasting gourmet coffees for restaurants and coffee houses for 23 years.

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Next time you’re in Laguna, drop by Hush, the much-talked-about newcomer to an already hot beach-area dining scene. This elegantly designed eatery has a San Diego connection, chef-partner Jonathan Pfleuger, who was formerly at Star of the Sea. He left the Sea in 2000 to go to the Russian Tea Room in New York. After a yearlong stint in the Big Apple, he and his partners opened Vertical in downtown Laguna Beach. After it closed in late 2002, he opened the Montage Resort and Spa under Executive Chef James Boyce (Loews Coronado, Mary Elaine’s at The Phoenician Scottsdale). Hush features modern California fare with dishes like the “Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras with French Lentils and Duck Confit,” as well as the “Santa Barbara Prawns with Truffled Macaroni and Cheese” being menu headliners. The dining crowd is eclectic, ranging from surfers and pro volleyball players to fashionistas and poseurs. There’s plenty of eye candy to whet your appetite at Hush.

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China Doll opened last month in the former Buddha Bar space on the ground floor of the Emerald Shapery Building Downtown. Owned and operated by the cb5 restaurant group, this sister restaurant to the South Beach hot spot Pao serves traditional Chinese cuisine. The beaded curtain entry, jewel-toned interiors and glowing wall of fire behind the bar combine to create a genie-bottle effect. Cb5 also is responsible for several custom restaurant ventures, including ones for the Ian Schrager, Hard Rock and W hotel groups, the most recent being the San Diego W Hotel’s restaurant Rice.

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Watch for construction on the corner of Sixth Avenue and J Street Downtown this fall. The 9,000-square-foot freestanding building going up there will be the future site of The Palm Restaurant. A fall 2005 opening is scheduled for the 300-seat restaurant whose siblings are famous for steak, lobster and celebrity caricatures.

Terryl Gavre believes the world would be a better place if everyone worked once as a foodserver. She is owner of Café 222, Downtown, and can be reached at 233-4060, Ext. 316, or at terryl@sandiegometro.com.