Police say it wasn't the fact that a doorman at Cafe 1221 on Dorchester Avenue had an apparently drunken, angry patron restrained on the sidewalk that bothered them. It was, they say, the blood pouring out of several gashes on his face and head, which suggested to them that more than simple restraint had been applied to the man on the night of Nov. 24.

The Boston Licensing Board decides Thursday what action, if any, to take over the incident, which restaurant managers say started when a regular customer, who had been in the restaurant for 90 minutes to 2 hours, got up to go outside for a smoke break.