A restaurant of award-winning French chef Daniel Boulud has been fined $1.3m after a diner swallowed a piece of wire in a plate of coq au vin and needed emergency surgery.

The customer, Barry Brett, went with his wife in February 2015 to db Bistro Moderne in midtown Manhattan. It is one of Boulud’s several establishments in new York, including Daniel, a Michelin two-star restaurant.

Shortly after he began eating, Brett felt something lodged in his throat and had to leave the restaurant, according to court documents.

The wire eventually caused a potentially fatal infection, his lawyers argued.

The surgeon said the wire was an inch long (2.5cm) and had come from a cheap grill brush.

A New York jury ruled last week the restaurant had been negligent, awarding Brett $300,000 and fining the restaurant an additional $1m in punitive damages. Another $11,000 went to Brett’s wife.

Staff at the restaurant, which opened in 2001 and is known for its gourmet burgers, declined to comment. Its attorneys were not immediately available.

One of them told the New York Post the restaurant planned to appeal.

Boulud has made New York his hub since the 1980s, but also runs restaurants in Boston, Las Vegas, London, Miami, Montreal, Palm Beach, Singapore, Toronto and Washington.