Benjamin Moore faced a daunting challenge when he was appointed head chef of Parallel 33 and its adjoining Blue Lotus Lounge. The mission was to inscribe his signature onto a palette of far-reaching global cuisine made notably popular by acclaimed chef Amiko Gubbins, whose name became synonymous with the serene, bamboo-appointed restaurant almost immediately after it opened in 1999.

As part owner, Gubbins sent homebody appetites on a culinary odyssey trailing earth’s 33rd parallel, exposing them to spices and preparations used in Morocco, Lebanon, India, China, Japan and the Tigris-Euphrates valley. It was an adventurous and awakening concept that attracted a devoted patronage, which still remains evident more than a year after she left to take a position at Specialty Produce.

Moore has risen to the occasion with flying colors by applying his own genius to the menu without disrupting the multiethnic boilerplate Gubbins left behind. He brings to the table a resume that includes culinary schooling at Cal Poly Pomona and Le Cordon Bleu, plus a stint as sous chef for Social in West Hollywood – and perhaps most importantly, an apprenticeship under Gubbins.

“I’ve been coming here for nine years and never had a bad meal,” said my companion as we ventured into Moore’s new small plates menu, which economically speaking he says, “rides with the times.”

But it’s remarkably innovative, too. Spiced pork dumplings, for example, receive an intriguing spark from Moore’s homemade chili powder using various peppers to infuse the meat. The flavor is contrasted by apricot glaze on the supple casings and apple-tangerine slaw served alongside. Schezuan pepper hangar steak was also mouthwatering, a poor man’s filet mignon when cooked this tenderly. The juicy, medium-rare meat is served over sweet polenta and mushroom-bean compote, accompanied by a mesh of mustard greens, kale and spinach.

Moore has created a fine successor to Gubbins’ famous ahi poke, which I fondly recall was layered with mango, Asian pear and wasabi dressing. The current version is equally titillating, using thin slices of Japanese albacore sashimi and thinner sheets of mango blanketing the plate. The ingredients are speckled with black sesame seeds and dressed lightly with ginger-lime sauce, imparting a dramatically clean and bright essence to the raw tuna. Crispy square-shaped wontons serve as crackers.

A similar boost is bestowed to clams from British Columbia. They’re drenched in a zingy tamarind-lime broth that could double as soup – or as a superlative dipper for crusty bread if only it was included. The clams, however, were inordinately small, each yielding about enough meat to cover a molar. Moore admits this is deliberate, preferring miniscule bivalves because of their sweetness over larger ones that often turn up “muddy.”

With more than a dozen internationally inspired small plates in the offing, the “large plates” category is succinct in comparison, with only four to choose from. But consider that a good omen, as Moore exerts careful focus to each. In the case of a double-cut pork chop, he brines it lightly with Saigon cinnamon, which is earthier and more aromatic than its North American counterpart. Thick and alluring, the carefully grilled chop was complimented by a salad of tangy artichoke hearts and rich Okinawa purple potatoes.

The spice factor jumped to Tunisia in my companion’s roasted chicken flavored with chermoula, a semi-intense amalgamation of coriander, garlic, cumin, chilies, oil and lemon juice. Spiced mango cous cous tossed with edamame came on the side. It’s a highly stimulating meal, and the chicken was plentiful, totaling a half bird or more that yielded two meals’ worth of succulent white and dark meat.

The B’Stilla used to be an appetizer that contained chicken within a disc of phyllo pastry. Moore, however, has turned it into a wildly sensational dessert that tastes like cookies baking in the oven smell. He instead plugs the pastry with dates, pears and pecans and adorns it with lemons, honey-crème anglaise and cardamom-caramel gelato. The interplay between the nuts, fruit and sugar, and the warm and cold, was hypnotic.

Moore has righteously honored the culinary paradigm established by his predecessor while carving a fresh style of his own. His use of exotic spices seems more forward than what I remember of Gubbins’ cooking – an observation rather than a complaint toward either. And in his quest to expand our dining journey, he is currently exploring dishes that hover near the 33rd parallel of the U.S., so get your map and stick pins ready to mark New Orleans and Miami in the coming year.