Mod Spuds, a monthlong jacket potato pop-up in South Philly, is the latest from chef Ange Branca

Diner traffic doesn’t usually peak on Monday evenings, but there was a long line of patrons waiting to get inside Comfort & Floyd at just that time this week. They poured into the South Philly luncheonette’s diminutive space, quickly filling its 16 seats and every inch of standing room. They were eager to taste Ange Branca’s take on English jacket potatoes: enormous russet potatoes baked until the skin is dark and shatteringly crisp, with a fluffy interior that’s splayed open and filled with heaps of baked beans, shredded cheese, thin-sliced beef, chili con carne, or jackfruit.

Unlike their American cousin, the baked potato, the English jacket potato is not a side dish, but a full meal in a bowl.

While Branca’s Bella Vista restaurant Kampar remains under construction after a February fire, Branca has rallied her 20-person staff for Mod Spuds, a monthlong residency running twice a week at Comfort & Floyd, located on the corner of 11th and Wharton.

Southeast Asian twists on the comfort food of the ’90s seem to be having a moment — Mod Spuds pops up in the same month as the debut of Manong, Chance Anies’ Filipino interpretation of an Outback Steakhouse. It’s another instance of a chef centering a specific story from a moment in their life as the animating theme of a concept.

In Branca’s case, she survived on jacket potatoes while studying at university in Edinburgh.

She retells the story of this era in her life through global flavors found in Philadelphia. There’s a Philly cheesesteak spud with hot pepper relish; a Bollywood spud with chicken tikka masala; the Nacho, with chorizo, pico de gallo, and salsa verde; a Happy Jack spud with barbecue jackfruit; and one more familiar to Branca’s devotees — a Malaysian spud with beef rendang, sambal, and ulam (a fresh herb blend). The classic Mod Spud is pulled directly from Branca’s university days, topped with chili con carne and Heinz baked beans that British chef Sam Jacobson from Stargazy helped her source.

Branca has a particular way of eating jacket potatoes. “I dig right into the middle, scooping all the way down so I can get a little bit of each topping and a little bit of the potato.” Once she has scraped the toppings and potato from its skin, or jacket, she’ll pick it up like a taco and eat it.

Each jacket potato goes for $15. All offerings are gluten-free. Diners may also build their own spud ($8 for the base, $3 for each vegetable topping, $5 for each meat topping).

Wash it all down with an excellent and very fizzy homemade root beer ($8) from Kampar server and fermentation specialist Rachel Ore. (Make it a float with Turkey Hill vanilla ice cream for an extra $5.) Ore is behind Kampar’s non-alcoholic soda program. For this one, she used sarsaparilla root, birch back, licorice root, galangal root, a little bit of cinnamon, mint, and some vanilla. The brew takes four days to fully ferment and creates an extremely bubbly beverage — sort of like if root beer married kombucha.

Branca hopes the fast-casual concept will have legs beyond this month’s pop-up and that its slick, retro, Jetsons-esque branding will wide appeal. Other than the rendang on the Malaysian spud, Mod Spuds marks a significant departure from anything that has ever been served at Kampar.

“I want to see if people love this, and if they do, I will keep it going,” she said.

Mod Spuds runs through December at Comfort & Floyd, 1301 S 11th St., 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays.