We're in the fifth season of Top Chef on Bravo, and a lot of people have been talking. It's a new season, it's a new location and on top of everything that's new comes new rules to contend with. New York is one of the toughest culinary landscapes to try to make it in, which means there is a lot to prove this season. As Tom put it, "There's no prizes for second place."

For the first Quickfire challenge (nice new graphics, eh?) the chefs discover that they will be proving themselves a lot sooner than they thought because the first Quickfire loser gets eliminated. Gotta love the new rules! The Quickfire was split into three rounds. The first was peeling 15 apples with a knife (no peelers), the second was to brunoise the apples (cut them into a perfectly cubed fine dice), and the third was to create a dish with the ingredients below the table. The first nine people to finish the first round were safe, and the first four to win in the second round were also safe.

By the third round, Radhika, Leah, Pat, and Lauren were in the bottom. The irony is that Pat and Lauren knew each other from a previous kitchen encounter and are good friends. It eventually came down to the two of them for an elimination, but Tom liked Patrick's dish better and sent Lauren home. She didn't get to see the kitchen or the apartment, which…oh my. Amazing. Beautiful view, beautiful furnishings…just…wow.

Padma and Tom had them draw knives for the Elimination Challenge (which is interesting, maybe this whole season will be quick because they'll keep eliminating on the Quickfire…just a thought). Each knife contained a location in New York that they will draw their inspiration from. Each contestant went out of their comfort zone, grabbing ingredients from the market they weren't entirely familiar with which ended up being the problem for most of them. They have two hours to prepare their dishes, and some of them felt like they had more time then they actually did. The clock runs out fast. Another thing to consider with this kind of competition is that there are sixteen chefs working in the Top Chef kitchens. Sure it's state-of-the-art and large, but that's sixteen people doing sixteen different things, some of them are even preparing multiple items at once. It's a lot of work.

Each pair was basically going against each other, meaning each dish had to be better than the person's dish from their "location." Jamie, Stefan, Jill, Jeffrey, Hosea, Leah, Daniel and Eugene were each the winners for their location, putting Pat back on the bottom, along with Ariane. Patrick, as a newbie, made a very newbie mistake of using an ingredient he wasn't familiar with, and Ariane, who has been cooking for twenty years, made a basic mistake in technique. In the end, Patrick was told to pack his knives. He'll just have to finish culinary school and we hope to see him again someday when he is ready. The winner of the first Elimination challenge was Stefan. If you're a fan of this program you will note that with the exception of one season, the winner of the first Elimination challenge went on to take the Top Chef title. Something to think about in the upcoming shows.

This season looks intense, so make sure you can stand the heat. We went from seventeen chefs to fifteen in one episode. As for the judges…Fabio put it best: "They like it salty, man!"

What did you think of the "Top Chef" season premiere? Let us know in the comments!

Story by Kristin M. Koltz
Starpulse contributing writer