In 1991 Ruth Reichl, then a Los Angeles Times food writer, observed that much of the style now identified with California cuisine, and with nouvelle cuisine du Mexique, was practiced by Encarnaci n Pinedo a century earlier. A landmark of American cuisine first published in 1898 as El cocinero espa ol (The Spanish Cook), Encarnaci n's Kitchen is the first cookbook written by a Hispanic in the United States, as well as the first...