Dear Todd English,

We’re sorry about Olives. It was a good run.

But we’re not sorry that it’s now Legal Oysteria, a new midsummer date spot full of clam pizza, sparkling sangria and other things best shared with lovely people, opening tonight in Charlestown.

You may know Legal Sea Foods from their... many other restaurants. But this time, they decided to throw out the book and make an entirely new menu based on the edible and drinkable things of coastal Italy.

You’ll find traces of Olives here. Like those floor-to-ceiling windows, that same wraparound bar and the famous open kitchen with a gigantic clay oven. But now they’ve added billowy white curtains to the windows, topped the bar with marble and started using that clay oven to bake roasted-clam pizza in two minutes flat.

Come here with somebody you’d like to get to know a little better. Start the process over sparkling red sangria and ricotta fritters with spicy honey. Soon, the topic will change from small talk to something more serious. Something that requires sausages stuffed with truffle cheese. Something that requires you to lean in closely and whisper in their ear:

“I could probably have another one of those.”