Meshugganah: A pop-up Jewish deli with a twist

CHARLOTTE — When Chef Rob Clement launched his pop-up Jewish deli during the pandemic, naming his new business was the easy part.

“(Meshugganah) it’s either a verb or a noun,” Clement explains. “As a noun, it means someone who is a little bit crazy, and kind of does things their own way. As a verb, it’s like doing something crazy. So, starting a business in the midst of a pandemic … with no money, with two little kids, with no real plan of how this was going to work, it was a little meshugganah.”

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Clement says he was craving matzo ball soup and pastrami while he was home during the pandemic. Once he started making his own Jewish food at home, he decided to start a pop-up and make it for others.

“We’d roll up to the pop-ups with a stroller with two babies,” Clement said.

Meshuggunah grew from there. The business still operates as a pop-up, but one that’s making food on a more regular basis since he started working out of the shared commercial kitchen, City Kitch.

>> In the video at the top of this page, Your704′s Elsa Gillis talks to Clement about his future plans for the business and gets an inside look at Meshuggunah.

To find out where the pop-up will be next, go to meshugganah.com.

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