By Melissa Clark, The New York Times As a Caesar salad enthusiast, I’ve seen my share of crouton stand-ins. Some are quite good (crumbled pretzels, fried chickpeas, toasted pumpkin seeds), while others are mere wannabes. (Wasabi peas, ahem. Dried apple chips? Don’t get me started.) But not a single one holds a candle to that queen of crunch, the frico. A traditional Italian nibble to serve with drinks, fricos are thin wafers native to Friuli, in the northeast, typically made by frying grated hard cheese until it turns golden, salty and audibly crunchy.