Santana's eatery opening delayed

Plans by legendary rock guitarist Carlos Santana to open a restaurant in downtown Santa Rosa have been delayed again, this time until next year.

The San Rafael resident partnered in 2007 with Walnut Creek-based Dudum Sports & Entertainment to convert The Cantina in Santa Rosa into a high-end Mexican restaurant called Maria Maria

The company pushed back the Santa Rosa opening in favor of a Maria Maria in Texas, spokesman Mario Vega said.

"We had an offer come to us to open a restaurant in Austin that we couldn't pass up," Vega said.

The company originally planned a June 2007 opening in Santa Rosa. That got pushed back to fall of 2008. The decision to open the Austin restaurant pushed Santa Rosa until 2009 at the earliest, Vega said.

Austin will be the fourth Maria Maria location to open, following Walnut Creek, Mill Valley and Tempe, Ariz.

-- Kevin McCallum