Season 5 of Top Chef premiered last night on Bravo, and I have the enviable task of recapping each episode for everyone's favorite foodie blog: Slashfood. A word of warning for all you folks out there that haven't watched this episode yet, here there be spoilers.

The producers of this season's Top Chef have made it clear that this is the most difficult season of Top Chef ever, and it is being filmed in the toughest city around: New York. This season's contestants meet each other for the first time in a variety of New York locales (just to make sure that you know they are, in fact, in New York City) and introduce themselves, I try not to get attached to any one chef until at least episode 6 (you never know when someone will be eliminated).

Soon enough the contestants find themselves on a ferry to Governor's Island where Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio wait with this season's first Quick Fire challenge.

Read on for more Top Chef details after the jump.

17 contestants get off the ferry to meet Tom and Padma to find out that one of them will soon be an ex-contestant. That's right, this Quick Fire challenge is also an elimination challenge (cue the dramatic music and quick montage of shocked contestants' faces).

The Quick Fire challenge has three parts:

1. Peel 15 apples with just a paring knife (no peelers here). The first 9 to peel their apples, to Tom's satisfaction, are safe. The remaining 8 move onto the second part of the challenge.
2. Brunoise (that's fancy chef talk for finely chop, though in a particular way) two cups of apples to Tom's satisfaction. The first 4 to finish are safe with the remaining 4 moving on to the final part of the challenge.
3. Cook something with the apples, and some provided ingredients, in 20 minutes. This dish should be good enough to convince Tom that you should stay.

After a little bit of drama (Richard cuts his thumb pretty badly during the first part of the challenge, but he sucked it up and was the 8th person to finish) we are left with the 4 chefs who are facing elimination:

• Lauren who makes a salad with apple, blue cheese, bacon, and a balsmic vinnagret
• Patrick who makes an apple slaw with yogurt dressing
• Radhika who whips up an apple chutney
• Jill makes a scallop and apple dish

Tom tastes all the dishes and finds Lauren's to be lacking. Just like that her dream of being a Top Chef is over and she is sent back onto the ferry (at least she didn't need to pack her knives since she didn't even get a chance to unpack them in the first place).

The other potential Top Chefs breathe a sigh of relief, but the relief doesn't last long as the dreaded knife block is revealed. Each chef is asked to pick a knife which has the name of a New York neighborhood printed on it. Two chefs are assigned to each neighborhood with the task of cooking a dish inspired by said neighborhood. The chefs' dishes will then be judged against their partner and the winner is safe for that week (with the loser potentially being cast off!).

Oh, and did I mention that they only have 2 hours to cook and a budget of $75?

I won't get into the various foibles of the contestants as they try to cook Russian food for the first time, or figure out which noodles are the best because I know what you're really interested in: who lost?

After the judges, including Padma, the lovely Gail Simmons, Tom, and guest judge Jean-George Vongerichten, tasted all the dishes they declared Stefan's dish of Beef Skewer with Onions, and Lamb Chops with Tabouli, Hummus and Middle Eastern Yoghurt Sauce to be the best overall. Stefan was pleased, but Patrick and Ariane were crestfallen to hear that their dishes were the judge's least favorite.

Patrick had Chinatown as his neighborhood and cooked up some seared salmon with black rice noodle and bok choy. The judges thought that while his technique was good the dish lacked inspiration. They felt Patrick threw a few things that were 'chinese' on a plate and called it a day. His biggest mistake, if you ask me, was deciding to use black rice noodles for his dish despite the fact that he had never cooked with them nor tasted them before (that's a big Top Chef no, no).

Araine's middle eastern dish of lamb and farro (a type of wheat) was more inspired but had one basic problem. The farro wasn't cooked through, which ruined Araine's risotto-esque side dish. Tom sternly told her that these kinds of mistakes just can't be made on Top Chef.

So, which is more important: technique (Patrick) or inspiration (Araine)?

Inspiration reigns supreme as Padma asks Patrick to pack his knifes and go. Shed not a tear for Patrick, he has plenty of good cooking years ahead of him. I'm sure he'll return to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) and wow his teachers and fellow students.

That's it! The first episode of season 5 is over. What did you all think? As usual, I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people one has to keep track of during the first few episodes of a show like Top Chef. Over the course of the season I'm sure favorites, and not so favorites, will emerge. Sound off in the comments with the contestants you like best!