Beacon Street between St. Mary’s and Carlton is a beehive (not to be confused with the Busy Bee) of foodie action right now. Tomorrow Whole Foods opens its 22nd Massachusetts store in the space formerly occupied by the late, lamented Johnny’s Fresh Market.

From the Boston Herald:

Whole new market set to debut in Brookline

Grocer will skew to ready-to-eat items

A new Whole Foods will open in Brookline on Thursday with the distinction of being the smallest in the country for the natural and organic food grocer.

But even with just 8,000 square feet of retail space, managers of the Beacon Street store say no product category is being left out, despite stocking 4,000 distinct products compared to the 10,000 to 15,000 found at the largest Whole Foods.

“We didn’t eliminate any entire department,” associate team leader David Lomonaco said. “We squeezed them in.”

And squeezed Johnny’s out.

Yeahyeah – Johnnies Foodmaster chose to sell six of its Boston-area locations to the Texas-based supermarket chain, but local residents still need to adjust to the change from a reasonably priced grocery store with real workers serving them to a fancy-schmancy “community grocer, offering the finest and largest selection of natural and organic foods” (including “a produce section, charcuterie/deli, bulk foods such as grains and granola, and a juice/smoothie/coffee bar,” according to the Herald) staffed by people wearing Whole Foods sweatshirts and baseball caps (at least that’s what the hardwalking staff saw yesterday on our way to work).

Meanwhile, at the corner of Beacon and St. Mary’s, work proceeds apace on The Strangest Restaurant Ever, Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ.

From what the hardwalking staff can gather, Gyu-Kaku’s dinner for two costs $55, which doesn’t strike us as a price point that will be popular with either the locals or the BU students likely to patronize the place.

Then again, the hardworking staff has long been a reverse barometer of what the American public wants, so we’re likely 100% wrong about that.

Details at 11.