Pictured: Meshugana Deli offers traditional Jewish delicatessen favorites, including pastrami, brisket, and turkey sandwiches piled high. Photo by Melissa Toye, Gray Photography.

The Yiddish word meshugana means nonsense or silliness, and it’s clear why the husband-and-wife team of Adam and Liz Woldman used it when naming their Jewish deli: Their food is insanely delicious.

I had been craving a proper deli sandwich ever since I had returned from a whirlwind work trip to New York City in mid-December where I had no time to visit some of my favorite eateries. That’s when I remembered that I had yet to try Meshugana Deli in Sarasota’s Gulf Gate neighborhood.

Meshugana is open mainly for carryout and catering, but there are a few two-top tables outside, which is where my friend and I sat to catch up and enjoy some of the best deli sandwiches I’ve had since moving here.

I opted for the pastrami, which was, of course, piled high on fresh and flavor-bursting rye bread. The pastrami is lean and smoky with an outside bark around its rim that retains so much of the spice flavoring. I adore the simplicity of Jewish deli sandwiches. There’s never an overabundance of vegetables to distract from the flavor of the meat. It’s simple, fresh ingredients with a nod to abundance.

When it was handed to me, I remember thinking, oh great … this is huge and I’ll be able to have leftovers. Nope. I devoured it entirely. I had to know what goes into the pastrami, so I reached out to Liz and Adam, who told me the pastrami comes from New York. It’s smoked, slow cooked and, Adam says, “the meat is marbled enough to offer both fatty and lean cuts, and we hand-cut. It would be blasphemous to put it through the slicer.”

The recipes come mostly from Adam Woldman’s mother and grandmother.

“I have years of culinary training,” Adam Woldman says, “but it takes an emotional connection — not just the mechanics — to really produce the product that we want to produce.”

There was a fast-moving line out the door the day I ate there, and the staff was smiling, friendly, and quick with a recommendation. The sandwich offerings in addition to the pastrami include corned beef, brisket and turkey. They’re served with a garlic-forward, flavorful kosher pickle and a side of coleslaw, macaroni salad, or potato salad. You’ll also find a bevy of traditional Jewish side dishes like chopped liver, latkes, knishes, kugel, matzoh ball soup and egg salad.

Adam tells me they’re not just trying to make good food — they also hope to evoke memories of the Jewish deli food that so many of us experienced in the big cities like New York, Philadelphia and Chicago before moving here. And with food this high quality, I wouldn’t be surprised if they start to make a wave of wonderful new culinary memories for Sarasota diners along the way.

Meshugana Deli, 6609 Superior Ave., Sarasota, 917-410-3397, meshuganafla.com/

Pictured: Meshugana Deli offers traditional Jewish delicatessen favorites, including pastrami, brisket, and turkey sandwiches piled high. Photo by Melissa Toye, Gray Photography.