The Boston Licensing Board today approved a local restaurant group's plans to replace Hook + Line on Fan Pier Boulevard in the Seaport with another steakhouse - although one based on a modern French brasserie and with seafood options - but rejected the proposed 11 p.m. closing time for an outdoor patio because sound just hits different in Boston's glass-towered nouveau arrondissement.

Board members instead set a 10 p.m. closing time for the patio at what will become Le Boulevard - but said that the Himmel Hospitality Group could come back in six months to request a later hour should they prove they can operate the patio without bothering nearby residents.

At a hearing Wednesday, Himmel's Jaime Campos, who will be the new restaurant's manager, compared the proposed restaurant to its existing Bistro du Midi in the Back Bay, which has operated in a dense neighborhood for years without problems - and said that as a former director of operations at the Boston Harbor Hotel, he is willing to do what it takes to…