From The New York Times‘s exploration of the efforts that Applebee’s, erstwhile Mecca of Casual Dining, is making to update its “stagnant” menu: “A Craving for Riblets and Change at Applebee’s.”
The riblet, the Times informs the uninitiated, “is the meaty piece with flat bones left over when racks of ribs are trimmed into uniform rectangles. It is a classic menu item at Applebee’s Grill and Bar.” It is, the Times goes on to note, a “craveable.”
“Craveable,” here and in the Applebee’s lexicon, is a noun.
And yet, apparently, said craveable isn’t quite craveable enough. Because, we also learn–in what has to be the best line in the Times article–that “Applebee’s can no longer stand on the riblet alone.”
Alas.
Megan Garber is an assistant editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. She was formerly a CJR staff writer.