There are certain restaurants that render me a creature of habit. The better the experience, the more likely I’ll order the same thing and roost at the same table whenever I go back. It’s a matter of leaving good enough alone out of fear that a subtle change of routine might mangle the karmic harmony I strike with these places.

Parallel 33 is a prime example. It ranks high on my list of favorite restaurants, where I can’t resist the Warm Chicken B’stilla in Phyllo, the Ahi Poke with Asian Pear and whatever red-meat dish the kitchen invokes from regions straddling the earth’s 33rd parallel. Morocco, Lebanon, India, China and the fertile Tigris-Euphrates are among the common stopovers here.

Last week I shook things up a bit when I arrived with a vegetarian friend and took a table inside the restaurant’s new Blue Lotus Lounge. Intent on sharing plates, we zeroed in on meatless appetizers that I normally overlook, such as the Spiced Samosas filled with a veggie mélange that paired accurately with the accompanying chutneys and cilantro sauce. A spunky Fattoush Salad gave way to a crazier explosion of flavors involving sumac, radishes and Naan croutons, all playing off a foundation of romaine lettuce strewn with tomatoes and cucumbers. The combination, we felt, resulted in a pine taste that was sneaky and exotic.

Yet it was the Spicy Chana Dal Soup that convinced me I could survive a vegetarian diet if I ate here every day. With nary a molecule of saturated fat in the stock, the soup is thickened with myriad spices and then touched off with yogurt and cilantro. I highly recommend it.

Our meal courses were judiciously timed as we soaked up the many shades of blue in this loungy, low-lit annex. Compared to the Zen-like main dining room, the new space feels more conducive to lolling over a few libations than it does for deciding between Moroccan Lamb and Zaatar Chicken.

Yet walnut-wood panels with pillows tacked onto them provide an earthy comfort at the tables. And the trunks of white birch trees standing artfully at one end of the room serve as a clue to the must-see woodsy motif in the restroom, where you’d swear a deer might spring out of the wallpaper. A martini of pure pomegranate juice and Absolut Mandarin, called Tears of the Prophet, helped me reconnect to our urban location.

On this particular evening, the bartender was our waiter – an odd paradigm when you’re eating off starched linens. Yet his knowledge of both the dinner menu and wine list kept us in good hands as we skirted into Asia with our main courses. My companion’s tasty Udon Noodles, however, vamped with the Mediterranean as it contained oven-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives and feta cheese mixed throughout. It’s a satisfying dish that offers plenty of tang.

The pact I made to my dining companion to eat and share vegetarian items fell to the wayside when I laid eyes on the description for Sesame-Crust Wild Salmon, which included an obliging touch of bacon. My apologies to him abated as I forked into the bright-orange hunk of fish, which was served in a puddle of rice wine sauce that prohibited the bacon from overpowering the meal. Japanese eggplant and sweet-sour cabbage served as excellent props.

A heartwarming chocolate cake with mini scoops of roasted banana gelato capped our dining adventure through what I consider to be one of the best culinary itineraries in San Diego. Chef Amiko Gubbins and Robert Butterfield remain the masterminds behind this unique concept of fusing far-away flavors with physical design elements that foster the journey.

At Parallel 33, I’ve learned that it’s okay to tamper with change once in a while.