Charles Ranhofer (1836–1899) was the chef who brought Delmonico’s restaurant to greatness, making the name synonymous with American fine dining for more than a century. More important, he was the author of The Epicurean (1893), one of the first, and perhaps the best, of the American encyclopedias of haute cuisine. The Epicurean is revolutionary for those who think new American cuisine began in the 1970s. Jeremiah Tower, one of the pioneers of the resurgence of American cooking in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s, described discovering The Epicurean after years of exploring other cuisines:
I saw the title of a soup, Cream of Green Corn a la Mendocino. What struck me about the recipe was that it took its name from a town up the coast from San Francisco. Like a bolt out of the heavens, the realization came to me: Why am I scratching around in Corsica when I have it bountifully all around me here in California? It was American food using French cooking principles. I could not contain my exhilaration over what I beheld as the enormous doors of habit swung open onto a whole new vista.
