A fully stacked pastrami sandwich is a must-have for those visiting Ben's Kosher Deli in Boca Raton. (Chris Matula / Post file photo)

David Sax was sure he’d find some of the best Jewish delis in the country when he came to South Florida to research his book.

“Unfortunately, what I found is there were a lot of places that were just good enough,” says the author of the just-released Save the Deli (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24). “Good enough if you want to have a taste of deli. But there was nothing I tasted that I’m holding up as an example of what Florida is doing.”

Doesn’t he realize those are fighting words in a region with the third-largest Jewish population in the country?

“I know my audience,” says Sax.

Sax’s book started 10 years ago as a college paper for a class, the Sociology of Jews in North America. Other students tackled issues related to the Holocaust or assimilation. Sax took on smoked meats. Almost three years ago, he started blogging at savethedeli.com with one goal in mind: Save them or at least record their decline.

“It was originally a swan song,” he says. “And it sort of gave me the impetus to look at it not as something that was dying. It was about how to preserve and bring it forward.”

Save the Deli is subtitled In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen. His quest took him to the usual deli centers of New York and Los Angeles, but also to Montreal and Salt Lake City, Paris and Poland. The book is partly a nostalgic look at the eating habits of his grandparents and partly an appeal to save what’s left of what he calls “Yiddish cuisine and culture.”

“Yiddish food really encompassed much of Eastern Europe,” says Sax. “That place is gone. There are museums. There are scraps of population, but it’s nothing compared to what it was. After the Holocaust, there were no more Jewish immigrants so it increasingly became something that was Jewish-American.”

As Jews assimilated, Sax says they moved further away from the food of Eastern Europe.

“(Chef) Mario Batali goes to Tuscany a couple of times a year and learns from butchers and what have you. You can’t fly back to Poland and learn from the butcher.”

Adding to downfall of deli food, says Sax, is our “crazed diet culture,” which demonizes such delicacies as pastrami, tongue, brisket and kreplach.

Sax says that’s a problem in South Florida, where too many elderly folks are watching their cholesterol and too many younger folks are watching their waistlines.

“Florida has the potential for deli greatness,” he says. “It has a big Jewish population. It has a deli history.”

– John Tanasychuk

The author’s picks

David Sax includes 10 South Florida delis in his book and recommends these three:

Pomperdale New York Style Deli, 3055 E. Commercial Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, 954-771-9830. Expertly prepared sandwiches and other menu items that never stray from classic deli territory.

Ben’s Kosher Deli, 9942 Clint Moore Road, Boca Raton, 561-470-9963. Serves such rarities as beef tongue Polonaise, a casserole with sweet raisin sauce.

3G’s Gourmet Deli, 5869 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach, 561-498-3910. Great chicken soup and rye bread.

What makes a deli great?

David Sax looks for three characteristics in a great Jewish deli:

1. Family owned and operated. Even if it’s a chain, it must “operate like a family.” The person behind the counter has to remember you.

2. “It should smell like a deli. You should walk in and be assaulted by the pungency of steaming meat.”

3. A menu that’s focused on traditional foods. “What business does lobster have in Jewish deli?”