Two young women beside the takeout counter at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que eyeball the guy who's just walked through the West Willow Street entrance of the restaurant. "Can't be," one says. "Sure looks like him," counters the other.

Jeff Timmons removes the doubt by walking over and politely saying hi. The two women smile as wide as a full rack of ribs.

The founding member of wildly popular boy band 98 Degrees is in Syracuse for the day. He's been here before, singing with 98 Degrees three times at the State Fair Grandstand, in 1997, 1999 and 2001. And he'll be here again, on Dec. 17 as part of pianist Jim Brickman's holiday show in the Mulroy Civic Center.

For the month of November, however, Timmons and his friend/driver/musical production aide Damion Pugh have nationwide travel plans. On this day, they'll visit Syracuse radio stations Y94 for the morning drive time and 93Q for late afternoon. In between, they agreed to stop by The Post-Standard building for a photo shoot and for lunch with a reporter.

Then it's down the Thruway to do it all over the next day in Albany.

Talk about a grass-roots publicity tour. Timmons, 30, is a veteran of take-it-to-the-people travel. When he and his band mates from 98 Degrees, Justin Jeffre and brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, were trying to expand their popularity from their native Ohio in the mid-90s, they jumped in a Winnebago and talked to every DJ and reporter they could.

Timmons' present mission: To pump up the Brickman holiday show and talk about his new solo disc, "Whisper That Way."

He and Pugh show genuine interest in their surroundings. They gape at the hundreds of copies of front pages and color photographs that line the walls at The Post-Standard. In particular, they marvel at the shot of Syracuse University basketball player Hakim Warrick three feet in the air thwarting the final attempt by Kansas University to tie the Orangemen in April's national championship game.

Timmons, after all, played football in high school and at two colleges in the NCAA's Division III, Malone and Bluffton. The perseverance it took to rise to that level of athletics stayed with him.

He and 98 Degrees piled up the Winnebago miles until their song "Invisible Man" went to No. 12 on the Billboard pop charts in August 1997. That paved the way for Top 5 performances by the songs "Because of You" and "The Hardest Thing" the two following years and a No. 13 for "I Do (Cherish You)."

By then, 98 Degrees was firmly No. 3 in the U.S. boy-band race.

" 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys were ahead of us. They sold about 10 million copies of each album," Timmons says. "But we were a solid No. 3 with 5 million copies of each."

But the popularity of the genre waned. The four guys in 98 Degrees decided to take a break a year ago.

"We're still calling it a hiatus," Timmons says.

Nick Lachey has found the most mainstream popularity . . . but not necessarily for his music. Lachey and his also-singer wife, Jessica Simpson, star in the MTV reality series "Newlyweds."

"I don't think I could have done it," Timmons says of Lachey's decision to let cameras follow him and Simpson around. "For any young couple, it's hard during the first two years of married life. It's especially hard for two young celebrities."

In response, America has laughed as the show has revealed that Simpson thought Buffalo wings were buffalo meat instead of chicken.

"My hat's off to them for doing it," Timmons says, loyal to Lachey and Simmons. "I wouldn't have done it in a million years."

He remains close to Lachey and Simpson, he says, and especially Jeffre.

"We've been through so much together as friends. It's a special bond," Timmons says.

Still, Timmons is glad to be out writing his own songs.

"Some of these songs on this album were pitched for (98 Degrees') last album," he says. "Maybe they were too personal."

The 11 pop songs (plus two bonus remixes) on "Whisper That Way" touch on his relationships with his wife and two children.

"It's a mature, growing direction from 98 Degrees," Timmons says, "which is the whole goal for me."

Pugh co-wrote the songs "Favorite Star" and "Rainbow" with Timmons.

"He's added a whole other dimension, feel to my music," Timmons says of Pugh, 27. "Getting in the pocket. It's a feeling that makes all the difference in the world."

Pugh says: "He's taught me a lot of stuff about music. He's taught me the business. I feel lucky to be under his watch."

Timmons feels fortunate to have made the connection with Brickman, whose elegant piano work graces Timmons' song "Be the One." Usually, it's various singers from the music world who contribute the vocals to Brickman's discs.

Timmons was put in touch with Brickman by a radio promotions person. They met at Brickman's house in Los Angeles. Timmons brought the single of "Whisper That Way."

"He went crazy for it," Timmons says. Brickman signed Timmons for this holiday tour.

So here Timmons is in the Dinosaur, waving to fans and talking about the past, present and future.

"What's the next big thing (in music)? Blue-eyed soul," Timmons wishes. "Billy Joel. Darryl Hall. That style."

And Jeff Timmons? Sure, that would make him happy. Regardless, he says, he's honored to have made it this far, eating a pulled pork sandwich and cornbread on a warm November afternoon in Syracuse.

"I always knew how lucky I was," he says.