SUMMERDALE — L.A. Barbecue continues up the ranks of the Alabama Department of Tourism’s Facebook contest to name the favorite barbecue restaurant in the state.

The Summerdale restaurant, owned by Jeff and Aimee Frazier, was anonymously entered in the contest.

“We didn’t even know about it until Jeff’s dad called,” Aimee Frazier said in an interview at the restaurant.

Brian Jones, Year of Alabama Food coordinator, explained that the contest is based on basketball’s March Madness format, which started with 32 competitors across the state. The format divided the state into regions, with L.A. Barbecue housed in the Gulf Coast region.

“Barbecue is a passion in the state and this has really brought out the regional and local rivalries,” he said in a news release. “We started by asking our Year of Alabama Food Facebook page fans to name their favorite BBQ restaurant. Then we took the 32 most suggested restaurants and divided them into four different geographic regions and matched them up into different voting brackets.”

“When the Board of Tourism started, they only had 2,000 ‘likes,’” Jeff Frazier said. “Now they’re up to 12,000.”

The state Tourism Department announced that to date, the eatery located on Alabama Highway 59 has made it to the “Sweet 16.” Additional regional contenders include the Brick Pit in Mobile, Down South in Foley and the Shed in Mobile.

South Baldwin barbecue fans can cast in this round by visiting Facebook.com/AlabamaFood. If L.A. Barbecue continues to climb, it will make it to the Elite Eight and then the Final Four. Results from the Elite Eight round will be posted Saturday at 4 p.m. Results from the Final Four round, in which voting takes place April 1-4, will be posted Thursday, April 4, at 2 p.m.

The ultimate prize will mean L.A. Barbecue is named “The Year of Alabama Food Ultimate Barbecue Champion” on Monday, Apr. 8, which is the same day as the NCAA’s Men’s Division I Basketball Championship, and a trophy.

“It’s a pretty neat little deal,” Jeff Frazier said.